


can you hear me howl?

by lscar123



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Giant Spiders, Like a lot of spiders, M/M, Monster of the Week, Older Stiles Stilinski, Spiders, Stiles Stilinski Doesn't Know About Werewolves, fully written already, never catch me writing something where Laura is dead, younger Derek hale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-09 01:10:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15256116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lscar123/pseuds/lscar123
Summary: An overbearing sister, a hot waiter, an anonymous club make out session, and multiple decapitated bodies.This was not how Derek expected his Freshman year of college to go.





	1. blue, blue, blue, bluer than the night

**Author's Note:**

> this was 95% written during writers block periods while i was writing 'i fell into the moon' because i was desperate to write something without literally 13 characters to juggle, actual narrative stakes, and a Stiles who's literally nothing special and just a boring human lmao so i give you a 19 year old Derek and 22 year old Stiles in a universe where Laura is a college professor and having blue eyes doesn't mean you killed someone! 
> 
> i'm still editing the whole thing, but it's entirely written and will have a new chapter posted every week!

 

 

 

 

1

blue, blue, blue, bluer than the night

 

“The discovery of another body of a young man this morning, the second this month, has residents on edge. The Beacon County Sheriff’s Department isn’t saying much, but they are urging the press not to jump to any conclusions. Sheriff Noah Stilinski, in a press conference just a few minutes ago, said at the moment they are not calling this the work of a serial killer.”

Derek turned off the small TV at the edge of his bed. He tossed the remote to the side and winced when he heard it crash against the wall on the other side of the room. He was still getting used to the dorm, and the fact that things weren’t were he was used to them being. At least his roommate was gone, Derek was having a tough time explaining things like this.

Derek was pretty sure the reason his roommate wouldn’t look him in the eye for the past few days was because he saw the set of sheets he accidentally ripped into with his claws in his sleep.

He pushed himself off the bed and walked to the mirror, running his hand through his hair and squinting at his reflection. Derek was getting really tired of the glasses on his face, you’d think after wearing them for so long he’d get used to them, but every day was the same. He was a werewolf with bad eyesight, and he was pretty sure that was all the confirmation he needed that the universe did, in fact, hate him.

His mom swore that one day he wouldn’t need them anymore, but she always did it in a way that read more like ‘you’re perfect just the way you are’, rather than ‘one day you’ll be able to fuck up the kid who called you four eyes during all 12 years of school while not wearing them.’

Laura insisted that the new glasses he’d gotten right before leaving for college, simple thick black frames, made him look like a distinguished hipster. Laura would know, since half her classes were probably filled with guys who identified as distinguished hipsters.

Sighing, Derek turned away from the mirror and grabbed his bag. He slung it over his shoulder, pulled his phone from his charger, pocketed his keys, and left the dorm room. He sent Laura a quick text telling her he was on his way, and he galloped down the stairs and out of the freshman building. He stuck his earbuds in and let the loud music decimate his eardrums as he walked through the campus.

Beacon University was a bustling place, situated in the heart of Beacon City. Beacon City was the closest metropolitan city to his hometown of Beacon Hills, it was three hours away which gave Derek the illusion of leaving the nest while still knowing that home was just a short drive away. That, coupled with the fact that Laura was a professor at Beacon University, made Derek’s decision to accept his admission into the school before he’d even heard back from his other options.

Derek wasn’t ashamed to say he loved his family, wasn’t ashamed to say he wanted to be close to them. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to experience his own degree of independence, which is what college was supposed to be about. Sure, the fact that he was on his way to lunch with his sister, whom he saw nearly every single day, might mean that he wasn’t totally independent from his family, but Laura never bothered him about where he was.

Which, to be fair, was probably because Laura knew that Derek never did anything.

Still, Derek didn’t technically have to answer to someone if he came home late. He didn’t have to worry about the red eyes of an alpha sitting across from the door when he opened it after curfew, didn’t have to worry about the ears of his father, or his other relatives, if he got up in the middle of the night.

The most Derek had to deal with was an angry glare from his roommate, but Derek could deal with those.

As Derek walked across the campus, he wondered if he was doing something wrong. He had an entire semester of college under his belt and nothing to show for it except for good grades. Which, cool, because that was the point of college, but still. As much as Derek liked the idea of independence from his family, none of it mattered if he wasn’t doing anything with it. He’d walked out of the first semester with a grand total of one close friend, and that didn’t even count since Kira had been his best friend since they were like five years old. Sure, he had friends in classes and ones that he ate lunch with sometimes, but he didn’t have anyone other than Kira that he’d spontaneously call up and ask if they wanted to hang out.

“Move!”

Derek stopped in his tracks at the booming voice, just a few inches shy of colliding with someone zipping across the campus on a skateboard. He hadn’t even realized he wasn’t paying attention and somehow he’d made it halfway to the new place Laura wanted to take him for lunch without even realizing it. The skateboarder kept going, and Derek rolled his eyes when he heard the boy still cussing under his breath.  

After a few minutes of walking, Derek could see the restaurant that Laura told him to meet her at. It was a simple place, a family style Italian restaurant since Laura had been on an Italian kick recently, and Derek could see her in a booth by the window at the back of the restaurant. He pulled head earbuds out, stuffed them in his backpack, and jogged across the street to the front door.

There weren’t many people inside, aside from Laura only two other tables were occupied. That didn’t stop Laura though, the second she realized he was inside she yelled out his name, drowning out the stringy soundtrack that Derek was pretty sure every Italian restaurant played.

“Der!” Laura waved her hand over her head, “Back here!”

Every person in the restaurant looked up, and their eyes all swung towards Derek. Derek let out a low growl, one he knew only Laura could here, and ducked his head as he walked back to the table. Laura’s grin was more annoying than it had any right to be, so Derek reached out and flicked her on the nose as he sat down.

Laura glared at him, but Derek quickly opened the menu and held it in front of his face so he couldn’t see her.

“How was your morning?” Laura asked from the other side of his menu.

“Good,” Derek hummed, “Got an A on my Sociology paper and I almost got crushed by someone on a skateboard on the way here.”

Laura’s finger curled around the top of his menu and pulled it down, “I knew you were freaking out over that paper for nothing.”

“Or maybe I just wanted to waste your time by having you proofread it for me.” Derek shrugged.

Laura rolled her eyes, “I didn’t even read it, I just lied and told you I did.”

“You what?” Derek’s jaw dropped.

“I know you, little brother.” Laura’s mouth turned up in a wicked grin.

“You’re evil.”

“Maybe.”

“Have you ordered yet?” Derek asked.

Laura shook her head, “I just walked in like five seconds before you did.”

Derek looked out the window and watched as a few cars drove by, “Did you see the news?”

“Another body?” Laura’s voice dropped, “Yeah.”

“What are the chances that it’s a run of the mill psychopath?” Derek asked.

“Doubtful.” Laura sighed, “I talked to Jordan this morning, he said this body matched the other one. The marks on the wrists and ankles were identical, and the head was missing again.”

Derek shuddered. When Laura first told Derek about the body that turned up after a long weekend, Derek wanted to ignore it. He’d left Beacon Hills for college for this exact reason, there weren’t supposed to be any mysterious dead bodies in Beacon City. Certainly not dead bodies of young men with cleanly decapitated heads that showed up near nightclubs.

“Did you talk to mom?” Derek asked.

“She’s out of town for that pack thing, she wants me to take care of it.” Laura groaned, “if there’s something weird killing people here, Beacon City technically falls under out territory. Since she’s out of town, she says it’s up to me.”

“Can’t she just send Peter?” Derek asked, “Peter would be happy to find whatever it is and kill it. He’d probably be done with it by breakfast.”

Laura let out a small laugh, “Peter is already dealing with something else in town, the only person left in the house is dad and Cora. And I don’t think either of us want out human father or our 13-year-old sister going after a man-eater.”

“Did someone say man-eater?” A voice said from next to their table.

It was a testament to how deep into their conversation they were that neither of them heard him approach.

“Stiles?” Laura asked, surprise coloring her voice.

“What the hell’s a-” When Derek looked up, his mouth went dry.

The guy standing at their table was dressed like an idiot. He had a spiral notepad in his hand, and wore a white button down, an olive green apron, with an olive green cloth draped over his forearm, and the outfit was topped off with a matching olive green bowtie. The worst part was that even despite the incredibly terrible outfit, the guy was still stunningly attractive. He was tall, his pale skin stood in stark contract to his dark hair and freckles, and his brown eyes reflected the sun streaming through the windows.

Derek hadn’t realized he’d been staring at the guy until Laura cleared her throat. And kicked his shin under the table for good measure.

“Jesus!” Derek yelped, positive that Laura had at least given him a shin splint with how hard she kicked him.

The guy was looking at Derek with his eyebrows raised, but he was still smiling, “Uh, hi?”

Laura sighed, “Don’t mind my little brother, he’s just socially awkward.”

The guy laughed, “Oh, I feel you. I’m like the king of social awkwardness.”

“You know him?” Derek asked Laura, ignoring the way the guys laugh made his skin tingle.

“Jesus, you weren’t listening to a thing I said, were you?” Laura shook her head, “This is Stiles, he’s one of my students.”

Stiles gave Derek a short, awkward wave, “Hey, man.”

Derek waited until his tongue didn’t feel like a weight in his mouth, “Hi. Derek.”

Stiles looked confused again, “You’re Derek?”

All Derek could manage was a nod.

“Me, Stiles.” Stiles pointed as himself, then at Derek, “You, Derek.”

Laura laughed, “Sounds about right, Derek acts like the was raised by apes sometimes.”

Derek kicked her back under the table.

Derek almost died when Stiles sat down in the booth next to him. Their knees knocked, and it took all of Derek’s self-control not to press his back against Stiles’ and leave it there. He didn’t know why he was reacting this way, why Stiles was turning him into a stuttering mess. He hadn’t felt like that in a long time, too long probably, and Laura’s obvious glee about it was making things even worse.

“Sure, make yourself at home.” Laura laughed.

Stiles turned and looked back at the restaurant, “There’s three other people in here and that old couple over there has been looking at the menu for the last half hour. The last time I walked by they were trying to decide between spaghetti and linguini. You have to save me from the cast of Cocoon.”

Laura hummed, “In that case, feel free to intrude. Derek was just telling me how he aced his sociology paper.”

Stiles turned to him, draping his arm over the back of the booth, “Dude, you go to BU?”

Derek only nodded.

Stiles cocked his head to the side, “I’ve never seen you around.”

“That’s because Derek never does anything.” Laura laughed.

Derek would have kicked her if Stiles’ leg wasn’t so close, “I’m a freshman!”

Stiles gave him an impressed look, “Freshman in sociology. You’ve got some brains up there.”

Derek went cross-eyes following Stiles’ finger to where it pointed at his forehead.

“My little brother the Brainiac.” Laura reached across the table and ruffled Derek’s hair.

Derek ducked out of the way, bumping his knee into Stiles’ again.

Derek took a deep breath and turned to Stiles, “You’re in Laura’s Mythology class?”

Stiles’ face split into a grin, “Yeah. When I saw it on the class list my freshman year I knew I had to take it. It took me three years to get off the waiting list.”

Three years, which meant Stiles was a Junior.

“If I’d have known how…interesting you’d make my class I would have bumped you up a lot sooner.” Laura laughed.

“You’re the best.” Stiles held a hand over his heart and looked at Laura lovingly.

Derek wasn’t jealous.

“You’d get a kick out of Stiles’ paper at the end of last semester, Der.” Laura said.

“Oh?” Derek looked at her and took a sip of his water.

Laura grinned, “Stiles argued that werewolves were real.”

Derek promptly chocked on his water.

“Woah!” Stiles jumped a little, lightly touching Derek’s arm, “You OK, dude?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Derek recovered fairly quickly, “Sorry. Werewolves?”

Stiles laughed again, “Well, the assignment was to pick a myth and argue that it exists as if you truly believe it does.”

Laura rested her chin on her hand, “Stiles’ paper was particularly impressive, he went as far as to research and present some pretty compelling evidence that strange animal attacks in the preserve over the last two decades were actually done by werewolves.”

“It wasn’t too hard,” Stiles winked at him, “I just asked dad to let me look into some old case files and saw that a lot of them were similar. I mean, it was obviously just a mountain lion, but werewolves sound a lot cooler.”

“Dad?” Derek asked.

Stiles looked confused for a second, but recovered quickly, “Sorry, I just haven’t met someone who didn’t know who my dad was in like, forever. My Dad’s Sheriff Stilinski.”

“Excuse me!” The old lady a few tables over yelled, “We’ve been waiting to order!”

“Shit,” Stiles hissed, standing up from the table, but not before he touched Derek’s arm again, “duty calls!”

Derek watched as Stiles ambled over to the old couple and immediately charmed the angry looks off their faces. He talked with his hands, gesturing wildly, and leaning in to smile at them. Derek was pretty sure he was hypnotized.

Laura cleared her throat, “I could smell you from a block away.”

“Don’t be gross,” Derek wrinkled his nose, “and stop trying to embarrass me!”

“You’re doing that all on your own.” Laura laughed, throwing on her best caveman impersonation, “Me, Derek. Man of few words.”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the salt shaker like it had personally offended him.

When Derek looked back up at Laura, her smile was softer, less teasing, “I think it’s cute. You haven’t had a crush in forever. Maybe it’s time you get yourself back out there, don’t let one terrible experience ruin you forever.”

“Terrible experience?” Derek could feel himself getting angry, “You call your girlfriend of three years running away from you screaming and calling you a _monster_ a terrible experience?”

Laura frowned, “Der, you know I didn’t mean it like that. What happened with Paige wasn’t your fault. You’ll find the right person, but not everyone you’re interested in has to be _the one_. You’re in college, this is the perfect time for you to have some fun without worrying about lifetime commitments before you’ve even kissed someone. ”

“No.” Derek shook his head, “I’m not talking about this.”

Derek felt impending doom on the horizon. The conversation was quickly going into territories that Derek didn’t want to go into, and Laura knew it. She hadn’t bothered him about it in a long time, and now it was clear to Derek that she had just been biding her time.

The bell above the door clanged, and soon the restaurant was filled with voices. Derek looked over his shoulder to see a party of about fifteen people walking in the door and heading straight for the long table in the middle of the restaurant. Derek looked back at Stiles and saw him visibly deflate, but then he rallied and walked over to the group with a smile.

Another guy came to their table, and he was decidedly not Stiles, “Hi, I’m Brian. I’ll be your server.”

“I thought Stiles was our server?” Laura asked.

Brian just shrugged and pointed at the throng of people in the middle of the room, “That’s his section.”

Derek let out a low growl. Now he was in a bad mood, probably fighting with Laura, and he wouldn’t even have Stiles to focus on.

He ordered a small plate of lasagna, at least that would give him something to stab angrily at.

 

-

 

“Derek!”

Derek looked up to find Kira looking at him with wide, worried eyes. She pointed upwards at the chain holding the punching bag in place, and Derek winced when he saw that it was about to snap. He took off his gloves, threw them on the bench, and took a gulp of water from his bottle.

“What’s with you today?” Kira asked, “You’ve been in a mood since we got here.”

After lunch, Derek had gone straight back to his dorm and changed into his workout clothes. He’d texted Kira that he was on his way to the gym and that she should meet him if she was free. Kira was already there and signing in at the front desk when Derek walked in the door.

“I’m not in a mood.” Derek said.

Kira pointed back at the bag, “Tell that to Boxin’ McStuffins over there.”

Derek sighed and ran a sweaty hand through his hair, “It’s nothing. Laura just got onto my nerves at lunch. She brought up Paige.”

“Ah,” Kira nodded in understanding, “it’s been a few months since she last pulled that card.”

Kira was the first person Derek had called after that night with Paige. She was one of the only people outside his family who knew the truth, and she was the only one Derek wanted to talk to after Paige had run away from him in the preserve.

“She saw an opportunity and she took it.” Derek stood up from the bench and stretched his arms over his head.

“Opportunity?” Kira asked.

Derek groaned, “I thought the waiter at the restaurant was cute, and Laura decided to make it into a ‘get back on the horse’ conversation.”

Kira led the way across the gym, stopping at the bank of treadmills along the front window, “You know she just wants what is best for you.”

Derek hopped onto the treadmill, “I know. I just wish she also knew that I didn’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s just what sisters do.” Kira shrugged.

“You’re an only child.” Derek deadpanned.

Kira just shrugged again and started running.

Neither of them spoke again until they were done running. Derek let the music thumping in his ears distract him from the other sounds of the gym and his own thoughts about the day. He’d grown to love the gym, it was something he and Kira had started a few weeks into the first semester and Derek was proud at the last vestiges of baby fat he’d shed and started to replace with muscle.

Kira tapped him on the arm when she was done, and he hopped off the machine. They made their way to their respective locker rooms, showered, and met back at the front of the gym. Kira’s gym back was slung over her shoulder and her face was buried in her phone when Derek found her.

“We should do something tonight.” Kira said as they exited the gym.

“Like?”

“One of the girls from my psych class texted me about this masquerade party at one of the clubs downtown.” Kira said, “It could be fun.”

Derek stopped walking and waited for the light to turn green before they crossed the street, “Because my glasses and a mask will get along so well.”

“That’s the best part!” Kira poked him in the arm, “It’s a neon masquerade party, it’s going to be all blacklights and glitter, so you can just throw on a mask, pop on your baby blue’s, and everyone will think you’re just wearing some cool contacts under the light.”

It wasn’t the…worst idea Derek had ever heard. Derek’s eyesight was perfect when he leaned more towards the wolf side, it was only when he was a human that they gave him problems.

“You still have your fake ID, right?” Kira asked.

Derek nodded, “I don’t have anything to wear though.”

Kira gasped, and Derek looked at her with concern until she pointed at the sign of the store in front of them.

“How completely random and odd is it that we’ve just happened to stumble upon a Party City, where within we can find a dazzling array of masks in which to wear tonight.”

“I hate you.” Derek glared at her.

Kira rolled her eyes, “No you don’t.”

Kira hooked her arm through Derek’s elbow and pulled him into the store.

 

-

 

Derek hated nightclubs.

He hated the way the pounding music penetrated through his skin and into his bones. He hated the way so many sounds assaulted his ears. He hated the _smell_.

They hadn’t even stepped inside the actual club yet and Derek could still smell everything.

The bouncer checked their ID’s, not even sparing the fakes a second glance, and let them into the club. Derek slipped the mask onto his face, which was nothing more than a simple domino mask, and followed Kira inside the club. As soon as they were in a dark enough area, Derek let his eyes change.

The world around him sprung to life, colors blowing out and refocusing. The once fuzzy nightclub became clear, and Derek could see every single person as they moved through the crowd. The blacklight messed with his vision a bit though, whenever he got close to someone’s face it seemed to blur a bit. Derek didn’t mind it much, he didn’t plan on being that close to anyone but Kira.

They pushed their way across the dancefloor and towards the bar. Derek cringed every time a sweaty body part rubbed against him, and he ended up using a bit more strength than necessary to muscle the both of them through the worst part of the crowd.

The bar was hectic, but Kira was a pretty girl with long hair who knew how to use it to her advantage. She locked eyes with the first bartender she saw, winked, and tossed her hair over her shoulder and the guy practically ran over to take her order. Derek rolled his eyes at the whole display, but gladly accepted the rum that Kira put in his hands. Derek downed the glass in one go, and by the time he was setting it on the bar Kira was already handing him another one.

Peter shared the secret with them a long time ago. Alcohol barely effected their system, but if they drank a good amount of it fast enough they could at least get a slight buzz going. Basically, Derek had to binge drink to feel what a normal person would after three beers. It was rarely worth the effort, or the money, but Derek figured he should at least try to live a little for one night.

“Neither of us are leaving until we make out with at least one person.” Kira said, leaning into Derek’s side.

“Right,” Derek said, downing his fourth rum, “I’ll let you know how that goes.”

Kira rolled her eyes, “Shut up. I’m positive there are plenty of people here who would kill to make out with you.”

“If you find one, let me know.” Derek shook his head.

“Stop being so pessimistic!” Kira grabbed the front of his shirt and undid a few buttons until Derek’s chest was showing.

“Kira!” Derek batted her hands away.

“C’mon, Der!” Kira laughed, “Tits out for the boys!”

Derek rolled his eyes, “I knew the tequila shots before coming were a bad idea.”

Kira stuck out her tongue, and then shocked him.

Derek swatted at her, hissing in pain as he rubbed the red spot on his chest the size of Kira’s pinky. It had already started to heal, but it was the principal of the matter. Kira tended to get a little zap happy when drinking, it was the price you had to pay when you were best friends with a lighting fox spirit.

The music changed, and Kira grabbed Derek’s arm, “I love this song!”

Derek laughed as Kira started tossing her hair back and forth, whipping him in the face, “Go dance, I’m going to find the bathroom.”

“And you’ll dance with me after?” Kira looked dubious.

“Yes,” Derek sighed, “I’ll dance with you after.”

Kira pulled him into a hug, and then immediately released him to disappear into the sea of dancing bodies. Derek watched her go, and then turned towards the back of the club where he was sure the bathroom was. When he finally found it, he was less than surprised to see there was a line. Sighing, he dropped into place behind the last person and decided to wait. The line was only going to get bigger, and at least if Derek went now the bathroom might not smell as terrible as it would at the end of the night.  

“Dude, your eyes.”

Derek startled, he’d barely heard the voice over the thump of the music. He looked up to find a guy standing across from him, slightly taller than Derek himself, in a black t-shirt with a Batman mask over his face.

“Huh?” Derek blinked in confusion.

The guy cracked half a smile, stepping closer, “Your eyes, dude. They’re like…blue as hell.”

Oh shit, Derek finally remembered that his wolf eyes were on full display, “Uh, thanks. They’re…contacts.”

“No shit?” The guy stepped closer again, leaning in to look at Derek’s eyes, “Those must have been crazy expensive.”

Derek could smell a hint of alcohol on the guys breath, but there was something else there too, something Derek hadn’t smelled in a long time, “Uh…my friend does…VFX. She let me borrow them for this.”

The guy leaned away again, and now he was fully grinning, “Your mask is kind of lame though.”

There was something familiar about the guy, but Derek couldn’t put his finger on it. There were too many things in the club assaulting his senses, and every time the guy leaned in his face blurred just a little because of the blacklight.

“Like yours is any better.” Derek laughed, “Did you steal that from a kids Halloween costume?”

“Hey!” The guy pointed a finger at him, “I’m Batman! Everybody loves Batman!”

Derek tipped his head backwards like he was thinking really hard about that, “I’m more of a Superman guy myself.”

The guy pushed his way into the line behind Derek, the people behind them started to complain, but the guy simply turned on his heels, “Oh bite me, I don’t have to pee, I’m just flirting.”

Derek was supremely happy for the low light and the mask, because he was positive his face was as red as a tomato.

The guy turned back to Derek, “Everyone always loves Superman, it’s something about the whole boy-next-door-who-is-really-a-mysterious-alien thing. Me? I like my guys with a little broodier, with just a hint of angst.”

The guy was closer now, Derek could feel the warmth of his skin, “That sounds healthy.”

The guy reached out slowly, his eyes tracking the movement as if he was waiting for Derek to slap his hand away, and touched Derek’s arm, “I bet Batman is a better kisser than Supes too.”

The hand on his arm felt like it was burning through his skin and to the bone, Derek’s reply was embarrassingly breathy, “The world may never know.”

The guy leaned in closer this time, almost whispering into Derek’s ear, “How bad do you need to wait in this line?”

That question really shouldn’t have been as hot as it was, but suddenly Derek couldn’t care about the fact that he had to pee, “Not bad enough.”

The guy grinned, trailing his fingers down Derek’s arms until they slotted into Derek’s hand. The guy tugged, lightly enough that Derek could have broke away if he wanted to. Derek did not want to. He let himself be pulled through the club, around the dancefloor, and to a dark hallway just behind the bar. The music sounded farther away now, muted almost, and all Derek could focus on was the rapid beat of the heart in front of him. The guy was nervous, or horny, Derek still couldn’t get enough of a read on him with everything else going on.

Derek found himself back up against a wall, the guy pressed close to him. Derek had never been pinned against a wall like this, but he couldn’t say he minded it. Maybe Laura was right and this is exactly what he needed, a random anonymous guy in the club pinning him against the wall could be what finally got the lingering trauma from Paige out of his head.

“You’re cool with this, right?” The guy asked, his voice hesitant, “I mean, you like dudes, right? I’ve been known to misread signs before and I really don’t want to get punched in the face again because one time was totally enough for that and if you want me can just forget this ever happ-”  

He was rambling, which was cute, but all Derek could focus on were the way his lips moved. He leaned in and pressed their lips together. The guy let out a noise of surprise before melting into the kiss, leaning forward and pushing Derek back against the wall. He’d taken his dominant position back, and it made Derek weak in the knees to feel the pressure of a taller body on his. His tongue swiped across Derek’s lips, and Derek easily opened his mouth and let it in.

The kiss broke apart, and the guy let out a sigh, “Dude, your eyes are amazing.”

Derek laughed, “My eyes are what you’re thinking about?”

“I mean, your lips are pretty fucking great too.” The guy leaned back in and kissed him, “Scratch that, your lips are heavenly.”

Derek felt himself blush, no one had ever associated him with anything heavenly. Paige had called him a monster, and he’d thought of himself as such for a long time after. It was probably a line, it was most assuredly a line, but it still made Derek feel good.

The guy trailed his finger down Derek’s face, “You should take the mask off so I can see who I’m kissing.”

“You should too.” Derek whispered, pulling the guy back in for another kiss and threading his fingers through his hair.

The guy was almost breathless when the kiss broke, “I…have a secret identity to protect?”

Derek didn’t want to push. For all he knew, this guy wasn’t out and he was using the masquerade to feel free. It wasn’t Derek’s place to make him do something he didn’t want to. Derek would be entirely content with making out with a masked stranger for a night.

The guy leaned back in and kissed Derek hungrily. His hands trailed down Derek’s back, over his ass, and then he bent down slightly to grab Derek by the back of his thighs. Derek didn’t expect what happened next, but he felt the wolf inside of him come alive when the guy’s fingers pressed into the denim of his jeans and lifted his feet off the ground.

Derek lout out a sound that was maybe, probably, 100%, a moan. The guy laughed, softly nipping at Derek’s lip with his teeth. Derek tossed his head back and let the guy continue to bite as his neck, his stubble scraping across Derek’s smooth skin. It was all Derek could do to stop his fangs from sprouting, but he couldn’t stop the pleased rumble that rolled through his chest as the guy bit into his skin harder.

“Fuck.” The guy whispered, “Fuck, that was so hot.”

The cheap elastic band of his mask kept getting caught in his hair, so Derek reached back behind his head to cut the cord with a claw while the guy dove back in for another kiss. Derek felt the mask go slack and then fall to the side, and he reached back for the guy’s head and pulled him in for a deeper kiss. Their tongues met, and Derek greedily kissed as the guy’s breathing grew even more labored.

The wolf inside Derek was howling, scratching at its cage to be let out. It hadn’t felt contact like this in years, not since Paige. But this was entirely different than Paige, and Derek was surprised that the wolf was so into the idea of giving up control.

The kiss broke apart again, and the guy lowered Derek back to the ground. He rubbed at his arms and laughed, “I need to go to the gym more.”

Derek impulsively reached out and felt the muscles in his arms, and he smiled when he felt the guy shiver under his touch.

“Your mask?” The guy said, surprised.

Derek shrugged and took a step backwards, “Eh.”

The guy leaned back so he could see Derek’s face, “Dude you’re hot as fu-”

“What?”

Derek reached up and touched his face. Did he have a pimple? Was there something in his teeth? He knew his eyes would look more intense without the mask on, maybe it was going to scare the guy away.

“ _Derek?”_ The guy’s jaw dropped.

Derek’s eyes went wide, “What?”

The voice saying his name sounded so familiar, but the crowd cheered again as the song changed and Derek’s concentration was shot. He fucking hated nightclubs, he was so bad at focusing his senses when shit like this was going on around him.

Derek watched as the guy grabbed his Batman mask by the horns and pulled it off his face. It messed up his hair as it went, but Derek immediately recognized the face of the person standing in front of him.

_“Stiles?!”_

Stiles didn’t say anything, but the change in his body language was almost instant. Derek felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice cold water on his head. He felt the panic welling up in his body, felt all his insecurities slamming forward and into the front of his brain, and he didn’t know what else to do, so he ran.

Derek turned on his heel and made his way back to the dancefloor to find Kira, leaving Stiles standing there with an indecipherable look on his face.

 

-

 

“I can’t believe you made us leave!” Kira laughed as they walked across campus to their dorms.

“I can’t believe I made out with the hot waiter from lunch today and then he looked like he wanted to claw his eyes out when he realized it was me.” Derek’s shoulders slumped forward, “This is why I shouldn’t listen to you or Laura when you tell me to put myself out there.”

Derek should be used to people reacting to him like that by now, but it still hurt just as bad as it did the first time.

“I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you think it was,” Kira wrapped her arm around his shoulder, “he was probably just surprised.”

Derek shook his head as they walked up to the front of Kira’s dorm, “You didn’t see him, he was totally into it when I had the mask on but when I took it off he just like…shut down.”

“Again, he was probably just surprised.” Kira said.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Kira sighed, but dropped the subject. They walked up the stairs to Kira’s floor, and Derek gave her a hug before stopping in front of her door.

“I’ll text you in the morning,” Kira said, “don’t drive yourself crazy thinking about this Stiles guy all night.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Derek waved her off, “Go to sleep.”

Kira rolled her eyes and closed her door.

Derek managed to keep most thoughts of Stiles out of his mind during the short walk to his dorm. The campus was unusually quiet for a Friday night, but he figured most students were probably at the club for the masquerade party. Derek swiped his ID and let himself into the front door of his dorm, passing the front desk and taking the stairs up to his floor.

He wasn’t even surprised when he got to his door and saw the tie hanging from the doorknob. He could hear the sound of boring, rhythmic thumping come from the other side of the door and shuddered, turning on his heel and making his way back down the stairs.

Derek shouldn’t judge, at least his roommate had someone who wanted to sleep with him.

Derek wandered back out onto the campus. He didn’t exactly know where to go, Kira was probably asleep by now and his laptop was locked in his room. Laura might still be in her office if she had a lot of papers to grade, but Laura was too smart and she’d know something was wrong with him immediately.

Food sounded like the best option, so Derek walked from his dorm to the main strip of campus that had several restaurants built into it. A nice taco sounded good, maybe it would be enough to sooth the sting of Stiles’ rejection.

The strip had more students mulling around, some stumbling drunk and some just aimlessly wandering like Derek. The taco shop had a line out the door, which didn’t come as a surprise. Still, Derek wasn’t in the mood for anymore lines so he kicked absently at the pavement in front of him and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Maybe he’d try the gyro place the next street over, a gyro wasn’t a taco but there probably wouldn’t be a line out the door for them. He ducked into the alley next to the taco shop for a shortcut.

Alley’s were always creepy, werewolf or not, and they were even creepier at night. Derek adjusted the glasses on his face and turned his head to the side to see if he could hear anyone else in the alley. It sounded empty. Derek kept walking, his hands still in his pocket, and ducked under a spiderweb that took up the top part of the alley. He kept walking, and about halfway through the alley he finally started to realize that there were too many spiderwebs around. Sure, one or two seemed like it would be normal, but it felt like half of the alley was taken up by them.

Derek’s hackles were immediately raised. He let out a low, rumbling growl when he saw a figure at the end of the alley. It looked like a girl, but Derek couldn’t hear a heartbeat. The shadowy figure didn’t move, and Derek pulled off his glasses and let himself shift. He felt his claws grow, his teeth, and his eyes brought everything into sharp focus.

When he could finally see through the darkness, all he saw were spiders. They were everywhere, on the walls, on the ground, dangling from the webs just in front of him. Derek had never experienced arachnophobia before, but he’d also never encountered a literal army of spiders either.

His skin began to crawl, and he swore he could feel them crawling on him. He looked down and saw several of them on the toe of his shoe, and he kicked the off while stomping at the other ones on the ground.

When he looked back up, the shadow figure started to walk forward. As she moved, the spiders parted for her. The spiders on the ground all sifted to the sides, creating a perfect path for her to reach Derek. He felt something tickle his wrist, and he looked down to see silky webbing loosely wrapped around it.

Derek pulled his wrist back to try and dislodge it, but the webs tightened and turned razor sharp. Derek hissed in pain as the webs cut into his skin, blood pooling around the cuts and dripping down onto the spiders below him. His mind flashed back to the conversation with Laura earlier, he remembered the details that Jordan had given her about the bodies that were found without their heads. They all had strange cuts around their wrists.

Whatever was in front of Derek is what had been killing men around the city.

Derek looked up and saw the figure was closer, her back hair was blowing in the wind and glinting under the moonlight. He roared at it, the sound echoing through the alley. The figure paused for a moment, and Derek felt the web on his wrist go slack. He took the opportunity and used the claws on his free hand to cut the webbing free, and he quickly pulled both arms into his body to avoid being caught again.

He looked over his shoulder and decided it would be better if he ran from the fight, his wrist was already starting to heal, but he didn’t think he’d be able to recover from the decapitation. He didn’t know what he was dealing with, didn’t know how strong the creature attacking him was, and he didn’t want to fight it alone.

But when Derek looked back, the creature was gone.

The alley was empty. No mysterious woman, no webs, and no spiders. It was just an empty, normal alleyway. The only evidence that anything had happened were the drops of Derek’s blood on the stone ground next to where he stood.

He didn’t sense anything lingering, so he pulled out his phone and called Laura.

Laura groaned when she answered, sleep coloring her voice, “Derek?”

“I think I found what’s been killing people.”

Technically it found Derek, but Laura didn’t need to know that.

 


	2. dizzy from falling, delirious

 

 

 

 

2

dizzy from falling, delirious

 

Kira met him outside Laura’s lecture hall. He’d called her first thing in the morning to tell her what happened, and her first response was that she was angry Derek didn’t wake her so they could try and find the spider monster/demon/whatever and kill it. Derek just sighed and relayed exactly what Laura had said, to not do anything until they knew for sure what it was.

Which is how they found themselves sitting on top of the table in front of Laura’s whiteboard writing down all the facts they knew about the monster.

Laura uncapped her dry erase marker, “Alright, let’s go over this again.”

“I told you everything last night.” Derek sighed.

“Yes,” Laura said sweetly, “but it was 1am and I was more worried about my brother getting eaten than I was about getting out a notebook and writing everything down.”

Derek leaned back, propping himself up on his arms, and recapped the entire ordeal for Laura. Laura made a list of everything Derek said, and finished with a crude drawing of a shadowy woman with spiders around her.

Laura walked over to the table and sat in between Derek and Kira, “OK. We have a woman, who’s probably not an actual human, who can apparently control spiders. Though the spiders might not be real and just a way for her to distract you while she manipulates her webs around your body. She uses the webs to hold the victims in place, and then somehow severs their head and takes it with her.”

“She takes the head?” Kira gagged, “What do you think she does with it?”

“Eat it.” Derek and Laura replied in unison.

“Gross.” Kira wrinkled her nose.

“Does this ring a bell to either of you?” Laura asked.

“I feel like I’ve seen something like it before, but I can’t remember where.” Kira looked at Laura, “What about you? You’re the one who teaches mythology.”

Laura rolled her eyes, “Just because I teach a mythology class doesn’t mean I’m familiar with every spider monster based on vague descriptions.”

The door to Laura’s lecture hall opened, and Derek heard the sound of thundering footsteps going down the amphitheater stairs. No one really moved to erase the board since it wasn’t that odd for a mythology professor to have something about a spider woman monster on display.

“Sorry, sorry!” A voice that Derek would now recognize immediately for the rest of his life said, “I left my book in here, I spent all day yesterday looking for it before I realized this was the last place I saw it.”

Laura hopped off the table, “It’s fine, Stiles. My office hours just ended, and we were about to head out for lunch.”

Derek didn’t move, didn’t even take a breath. Maybe Stiles wouldn’t realize it was him, or maybe Stiles would realize it was him and pretend like he hadn’t. Either way, Derek really didn’t want to look at him after the disaster of the previous night.

“Oh, hey!” Stiles voice grew curious, “Is that supposed to be the Jorōgumo?”

Kira immediately jumped up from the table, “That’s it! Laura, do you have a book on Japanese folklore?”

“Holy shit,” Laura whispered, “Yes! Inside my office, second bookshelf to the left, bottom right hand corner.”

Kira literally sprinted across the lecture hall and into Laura’s office, slamming the door behind her.

“Sorry!” Kira said, loud enough for only Derek and Laura to hear.

“I feel like I’m missing something?” Stiles was obviously confused.

Derek continued staring at the whiteboard, looking into the eyes of Laura’s terribly drawn spider woman instead of at Laura herself.

“It’s just a…game!” Laura said, sounding proud of herself, “Sometimes I’ll make Derek and Kira try to figure out what I’m talking about based on a drawing and basic facts to see who’s lunch I pay for.”

“Dammit.” Derek growled at her.

“Derek?” Stiles couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice.

Derek looked up to see Laura pointing at him, “Don’t be rude, Der.”

Derek hoped he was conveying enough murderous rage at his sister through his eyes alone before he slowly, so slowly, turned to face Stiles.

“Hi.” Derek said, short and clipped.

Stiles’ throat bobbed when he swallowed, “Uh, hey. Again.”

Derek didn’t say anything, and neither did Stiles, they just stared awkwardly for several more seconds before Kira burst out of Laura’s office with a thick black book in her hand.

“I found it!”

“Right,” Stiles shoved his book in his bag before waving awkwardly, “You guys have fun at…lunch.”

Kira stopped in front of Derek’s line of sight so he couldn’t see Stiles exit the hall, only hear the door slam shut. Kira sat the book down on the table, flipping through a few pages until it stopped on an entry about something called a Jorōgumo.

 The picture next to the entry was a much more elegant version of the one Laura had drawn. It depicted a Japanese woman in traditional clothing, which would have been fine except for the eight spiders like limbs protruding from her back. Each spider leg had a strand of webbing attached to it, which was in turn attached to an actual spider.

“Mom used to tell me stories about these when I was younger,” Kira said, “I just assumed it was so I wouldn’t stay up past my bedtime.”

Laura picked up the book and read it, “Jorōgumo is a yôkai with the form of a spider, which can change its appearance into that of a seductive woman when it wants to eat a human.”

Kira elbowed him in the side, “Seductive woman, huh?”

Derek rolled his eyes as Laura continued reading, “They possess a cunning intelligence and a cold heart, and see humans as nothing more than insects to feed on. They are skillful deceivers and powerful shapeshifters, usually spending their lives appearing as young and stunningly beautiful women. They can spin silk threads strong enough to ensnare a grown man so that he cannot escape. They also have a powerful venom that can slowly weaken a man day by day, allowing the spider to savor the long and painful death her victim suffers. They can control other, lesser spiders.”

“That explains why she didn’t eat Derek, he’s not a human.” Kira said.

“You’re right,” Laura agreed, “she probably hasn’t had anyone escape her webs before.”

“Now that we know what it is, how do we kill it?” Derek asked.

Derek could deal with killing a spider demon, unlike some of his other problems.

Laura scanned the book again, “It doesn’t say.”

“Well that’s wonderful.” Derek rolled his eyes.

“At least we know what it is now?” Kira offered, “I’ll call mom and see if she knows anything about how to kill one.”

“That would be great, thank you.” Laura smiled at Kira, “I guess I have to find some way to thank Stiles for figuring out our problem for us.”

“How did that guy even know what it was?” Kira asked, “Who was that guy?”

Laura grinned, “Derek didn’t tell you about him? He was practically drooling over him at lunch yesterday.”

Derek’s eyes went wide. No, no, no, no.

“Wait.” Kira’s eyes went wide, “That’s hot waiter guy? _That’s_ the guy you made out with last night?”

Laura dropped the book to the floor, and the sound echoed through the lecture hall, “What?”

“Not talking about it!” Derek would rather claw his eyes out.

Laura was determined though, she turned to Kira, “Spill.”

Kira held both her hands up, “Don’t drag me into this.”

“We wouldn’t be in this if you could keep your mouth shut!” Derek growled.

“Hey!” Kira glared, “You tell Laura everything, how was I supposed to know this would be the one thing you keep secret?”

“I do not tell Laura _everything_!”

“OK, OK!” Laura yelled, shutting them both up, “Good lord, I didn’t mean to start a fight.”

“We weren’t fighting.” Kira and Derek both said at the same time, their tones equally petulant.

“Right.” Laura bent down to pick up the book, “I’ve got papers to grade, so we’ll table the rest of this discussion.”

Derek let out a breath of relief.

“Ah!” Laura pointed at him, “We’re still talking about this.”

“No, we’re not.” Derek turned his chin up at her.

“Yes, we are,” Laura rolled her eyes, “or I’ll just ask Stiles about it myself.”

Derek felt his face burn hot, “Fine.”

Laura sprayed the board with cleaner and erased any evidence of the Jorōgumo, “As for our spider princess, I don’t want either of you doing anything stupid until I talk to mom and we find out how to kill it.”

Kira held up her phone, “I already sent my mom a text asking her to call me, so I’ll let you know when she does.”

Laura shooed them out of the room before disappearing into her office to grade papers. Derek and Kira were both silent as they left the lecture hall, and Kira didn’t speak until they were outside next to the coffee cart.

“I’ll buy you a cinnamon roll if you stop being mad at me.” Kira offered.

“Is a cinnamon roll all I’m worth?” Derek tried to hide his smile, but it wasn’t working.

“I’ll show you how to cut off demon spider legs with my sword too?” Kira offered.

Derek thought it over for a second, tipping his head up to the clouds and pinching his chin between his thumb and index finger, “OK.”

 

-

 

The first thing Derek saw when he walked out of the building that housed his sociology class on Monday afternoon was Stiles. Stiles looked up as soon as the door opened, and Derek was surprised that Stiles _wasn’t_ surprised to see him. Stiles quickly stuffed the book he was reading into his bag and stood from the bench, a look of determination on his face.

Derek didn’t know what was happening, but he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. His fight or flight had always leaned more towards flight in these situations, so he turned on his heel and tried to walk in the opposite direction of Stiles.

Derek didn’t know why he could readily face down a Japanese spider demon but just the idea of talking to a 20-something year old college guy filled him with fear.

“Derek!” Stiles yelled out, “Derek, wait up!”

Derek had one of two options, he could wait for Stiles, or he could be a dick and pretend like he didn’t hear Stiles calling his name. Before Derek could make his choice, Stiles’ heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

“Derek, can we talk for like one minute?” Stiles asked, “I’ll leave you alone if you want me to, I just want to apologize for Friday night.”

That surprised Derek enough to make him turn around. He saw Stiles visibly relax when he did.

“Do you have anywhere you need to be?” Stiles asked.

Derek shook his head, “This is my only class today.”  

“Do you want to…” Stiles flapped his hand in the general direction of the sidewalk.

“Sure,” Derek said, “I was just heading to Laura’s class.”

“You spend a lot of time with your sister, huh?” Stiles asked as they started walking.

From anyone else it would have sounded like a judgment, but Stiles sounded almost wistful about it.

Derek cleared his throat, “Yeah, we’ve always been close.”

“That’s nice.” Stiles smiled, “I’m an only child, sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if my parents could have had another kid.”

Stiles’ scent spiked with sadness, which left Derek confused.

“Anyway,” Stiles shook his head, “I’m sorry about Friday night. You know, for making you uncomfortable.”

Derek stopped walking, Stiles didn’t realize and walked a few more feet before he realized Derek wasn’t next to him anymore He turned, confused, and walked back to Derek.

“You made me uncomfortable?” Derek coked his head to the side.

“I mean, yeah?” Stiles still looked confused, “You ran away like…as fast as you could. I’ve been beating myself up about it all weekend. I feel like such a shit, you know? Like, my dad taught me way better than to be one of those creepy guys in a club who just picks people up, slams them into the wall, and bites their neck. If you tell Laura and she kicks me out of her class I would totally understand.”

Jesus, what kind of clubs did Stiles go to where any of _that_ was something that happened on the regular?

Derek blinked at him a few times, only coming back to himself when he heard how hard Stiles’ heart was beating in his chest, “You didn’t make me uncomfortable.”

“What?” Stiles’ eyebrows shot up.

“I was into it.” Derek awkwardly looked away from Stiles, “I was _embarrassingly_ into it.”

“I don’t…” Stiles trailed off, “You ran away _so fast_ though, dude. I’ve never seen anyone run that fast.”

“Because you looked at me like you were mad it was me you were kissing!” Derek said, a little louder than he’d intended to if the weird looks people were giving them were any indication.

“What?” Stiles gaped, “Derek, I was _happy_ it was you!”

Derek could still see Stiles’ face in his head from that night, “You didn’t look happy.”

Stiles’ face softened into a smile and his shoulders relaxed, “I was surprised it was you, because I didn’t expect to see you in that club because it was 21 and up.”

“Oh.” Derek’s mouth hung open, “Fake ID.”

Stiles laughed, “I figured as much. I was surprised, but…happy?”

“Really?” Derek couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Stiles grinned, “Yeah, man. I was thinking about you all day after I got off work.”

“Really?” Derek still couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Yes.” Stiles laughed, “My stealth flirting game is admittedly terrible, but I thought I was doing the best I could with your sister at the same table.”

“You were…flirting with me. In front of Laura.” Derek felt like he was putting together a puzzle he didn’t have all the pieces to.

Stiles nodded, “Yes. I would have upped the game had that group not come in.”

A laugh bubbled out of Derek’s chest, a little frantic, a little manic, “You didn’t notice me drooling all over you?”

Stiles looked taken aback, “No?”

“I could barely form a sentence!”

“Laura said you were socially awkward, I thought that was just your personality.”

Derek’s mind was blowing in several separate ways all at the same time. He should find it weird that Stiles was still attracted to him even though he thought Derek was a socially awkward caveman, but it honestly gave Derek a good starting point.

A starting point for what though?

They started walking again, Stiles swinging his arms as they went, “So, just to clarify, I didn’t make any unwanted sexual advances on you?”

“No,” Derek laughed, “They were…wanted.”

When Stiles spoke, his voice was an octave higher, “OK. Good. Yeah.”

Derek laughed again, rolling his eyes.

They made it to the front of Laura’s building faster than Derek expected. Stiles looked up at the sign over their head, and then back at Derek.

“So.”

“So.”

Stiles kicked at the sidewalk awkwardly, “Can I have your number?”

Derek’s heart clenched. He hadn’t given someone his number like this since Paige, and that was almost four years ago. He couldn’t get the thought of Paige out of his head, the look of terror on her face. Did Derek really want to go through that again? Stiles was just a guy now, a cute guy, but what if he turned into more? Derek didn’t know if he could go through losing someone like he lost Paige again.

“You don’t have to, it’s fine.” Stiles apprehensive smile dropped, and his scent spiked with sadness.

“No, sorry.” Derek shook his head, “Yeah, uh, give me your phone.”

Stiles’ face brightened as he pulled out his phone, “Just…ignore any weird contact names you might see.”

Derek opened up Stiles’ contact list and tapped the button to add himself, typing in his name and phone number. He handed the phone back to Stiles with a smile before looking back at the door, wincing when he saw Laura’s head poking out into the hallway.

“I’ve gotta go,” Derek said, angling his head towards the door, “But I’m glad we…cleared things up.”

Stiles nodded, “Me too. I’ll text you?”

“Sure, yeah.” Derek opened the door and felt relieved to see Laura’s head gone.

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

Stiles turned and walked away as Derek stepped through the door. He didn’t make it more than five steps before his phone buzzed in his pocket. He laughed, pulled it out, and saved the unknown number as Stiles.

From: Stiles – it’s stiles

From: Derek – from sexual harassment to cyber stalking, huh?

From: Stiles – fjlsjfsfjgrsld STOP I almost drove home and turned myself into my dad

“Who are you texting?” Kira’s question made him jump.

“What? No one.” Derek fumbled his phone, watching in slow motion as it slipped from his hands.

Kira caught it before it hit the ground, and then promptly took several steps backwards so she could read his texts.

“Stiles?” Kira whispered, her eyes wide, “When did that happen?”

Derek held his finger up to his lip, the universal sign for shut the fuck up, “Just now.”

Kira grinned, “Damn.”

“Yes, damn.” Derek growled, “Now give me my phone before Laura hears us.”

Kira handed Derek his phone just as Laura’s door opened and a student stepped out of it. Laura followed him out with a wave and a smile, and then turned to Derek and Kira.

“Whatever you two are whispering about, do it quieter.” Laura shook her head, “My office hours are over, let’s get into this.”

They followed Laura down the stairs of her lecture hall after she locked the door. Kira hopped onto her usual spot on the table, Derek sitting next to her, and Laura rolling one of her chairs over to the edge. She pulled out the book of Japanese folklore and opened it up to the Jorōgumo’s page.

“Jordan called me earlier,” Laura said grimly, “I was waiting to tell you guys when you got here, but they found three more bodies this weekend.”

“What?” Kira gaped, “Three? How is that possible?”

“Two of them were older, and one was a fresh kill.” Laura said, “They’re trying to keep it out of the press so people don’t panic, so we need to find this thing and take it out sooner rather than later. Did your mom ever get back to you?”

Kira nodded, “She was at a conference so it took her a few days, but she sent me an email on every known way to kill a Jorōgumo.”

“What did it say?” Derek asked.

“Fire works, but they’re fast, she said my foxfire might slow it down some.” Kira said, “Other than that, severing all eight of her arms and stabbing her through the heart is the only way to kill it.”

“Seriously?” Laura threw her head back and groaned.

“Did mom find anything?” Derek asked her.

Laura shook her head, “She’s never dealt with one, and she asked around but no one she knows has either. It seems like Noshiko’s advice is all we have to go on.”

“Ok, so, we just have to find her and set her on fire.” Derek said, “Or, we find her and cut all her arms off and stab her in the heart. One of these seems easier than the other.”

Kira shook her head, “I don’t know, mom said you should never underestimate the speed of a Jorōgumo. Taking off all her arms may seem harder, but it weakens her each time she loses one. It might be easier to work together and take them out between the three of us.”

“This is why there needs to be more than three of us here.” Laura sighed, “if the rest of the pack was here it would be so much easier to just pile on this thing and rip her shit off.”

“Jordan can help, right?” Derek asked, “He might be able to help us set her on fire.”

“Good idea!” Kira chimed in, “What if he just like…holds her down after I zap her and then we just set them both on fire.”

Laura’s face whet pale, “We’re not setting my boyfriend on fire.”

“It’s not like it will hurt him.” Kira said flippantly.

“It’s the principal of the matter!”

Derek waved his hands between them, “Hey! We’re not setting anyone on fire except the spider.”

“Damn right.” Laura said under her breath.

“Oh my god, it was just a suggestion!”

“Knock it off!” Derek growled.

Laura took a deep breath, “We’ll go out each night in groups of two and see if we can find this thing. It can’t be too hard if Derek accidentally stumbled into it.”

Kira nodded, “Sounds fair. What’s the schedule?”

“Laura and I can go tonight?” Derek offered, “Since neither of us have classes tomorrow? Me and Kira can do Tuesday, then Wednesday Laura and Kira.”

“Only three days?” Laura asked.

Derek shrugged, “I mean, I hope it will be dead by Wednesday?”

Kira laughed, “You’re so optimistic.”

Yep, that was Derek. King of optimism.

 

-

 

They’d been making rounds all over the city since midnight, which was the earliest time on death for any of the victims. They had a working theory that she targeted people when they were coming home from clubs or bars.  It was quiet so far, which wasn’t surprising considering it was a Monday.

Remarkably, Laura waited until almost 2am to bring up Stiles.

“So,” Laura said in the tone that meant she was about to force a conversation out of Derek regardless of if he wanted it or not, “Stiles.”

Derek sighed, resigned to the inevitable, “Yes?”

Laura held up both her hands in surrender, “Hey, I gave you an entire weekend without asking about it. I’m just curious about what happened. I mean, you were both flirting with each other in equally terrible and stupid ways at Lunch, then you make out in a club, and then you both reek of confusion and fear in my class?”

Derek’s jaw dropped, “You knew he was flirting with me?”

“You didn’t?” Laura looked at him expectantly, and then her face softened after a few seconds, “You didn’t.”

“No!” Derek flailed his arms, “And he didn’t know I was flirting with him either!”

Laura tipped her head back and laughed, “Jesus you two are dumpster fires.”

“I’m never going to forgive Cora for teaching you that.”

Laura rolled her eyes, “You like him though, right?”

“Yeah,” Derek shrugged, “I mean, as much as you can like someone you don’t know. He’s cute and funny.”

“Is he a good kisser?” Laura elbowed him in the ribs.

“Do you really want to know about the kissing skills of your student?” Derek looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

“True,” Laura made a gagging sound, “On the other hand, you’re my brother so give me scale of one to ten.”

“You’re disgusting,” Derek said, “but a 12.”

“Damn, Stilinski.” Laura muttered, “I’m never going to be able to look at him the same way now.”

Derek shrugged, “You asked.”

They wandered around for the rest of the night, finally calling it around 5am. No bodies had ever shown a time of death past 5am, and Laura figured that the Jorōgumo was probably still full from having fed recently.

Gross, but it also made sense.

 

-

 

Stiles dropped down into the booth across from Derek, tipping his head back and letting out a loud groan. Derek stared at him for a few moments, and maybe his eyes lingered on the open expanse of Stiles’ throat for just a second longer than it should have. Stiles quickly recovered, straightening his back and looking at Derek with a grin.

“Long day?” Derek asked.

Stiles let out a sigh, scrubbing his hand down the front of his face, “The longest. I had an early class this morning, then I picked up an extra shift at the restaurant because who doesn’t love money? I love money, but you know what I don’t love?”

“What?” Derek asked, cracking a grin.

“Early bird specials,” Stiles groaned again, “a nursing home came in today. An entire nursing home.”

Derek jaw dropped, “Seriously?”

Stiles nodded, “There were probably about thirty old people trying to decide what they could and couldn’t eat. They actually outlasted the early bird special because they took so long to order.”

“That’s…wow.” Derek frowned, “If you’re tired we can always reschedule.”

He didn’t want to reschedule. He’d been looking forward to this date (?) with Stiles since Monday, and the only day that Derek could feasibly have made I work was Wednesday since that was the night he had off from hunting the Jorōgumo.

“No way!” Stiles said, drawing out the vowels of both words, “This was the only thing that got me through three hours of grandmothers asking me if shrimp could get stuck in their dentures.”

Derek gagged a little, “That is not something I needed to picture.”

Stiles grinned again, throwing a wink Derek’s way, “If I had to think about it, so do you.”

They were in a little diner a few miles from the main campus. It was a place Laura had introduced him too, she said it was far enough away from the campus that she hardly ever ran into students there. It had sort of become their place, and Derek couldn’t think of anywhere else to take Stiles that he would consider special.  It was retro themed, the interior almost completely white and red. A mobile of 60’s Sci-fi inspired rocket ships spun above their head.

Stiles reached up and tapped the mobile above them, bursting out into laughter when the ship he touched started to light up and make shooting sounds, “Dude, this place is awesome. How have I lived here for three years and never heard of it?”

“Laura goes around telling people to avoid it because she got sick from it once,” Derek rolled his eyes, “she’s trying her best to keep it a secret.”

Their waitress skidded to a stop next to their table, balancing herself on her roller-skates, “Derek! I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Hi, Bobbi.” Derek smiled, “I’ve just been busy with school.”

Bobbi looked across the table at Stiles, “You’re not Laura.”

Stiles laughed, “I sure hope not, otherwise this date would be really awkward.”

 “A date?” Bobbi asked, amusement coloring her voice.

Derek dipped his head and felt his cheeks start to burn, mumbling, “First date.”

“Ah ha, and what can I get you fine gentlemen to eat?” Bobbi asked.

Derek folded his menu and handed it back to Bobbi, “I’ll just have my usual.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow, “What’s your usual?”

“Chicken pot pie and a side salad with ranch.” Bobbi said automatically.

“Good choice,” Stiles hummed before folding his menu, “I believe I will have the Love Me Tenders.”

Stiles winked at Derek again, and Derek felt his inside liquify.

Bobbi’s eyes darted between the two of them before a smug grin fell over her face, “An excellent choice if I do say so myself.”

She gathered their menu’s and then pushed herself away from the table, gliding down to the counter on her skates before disappearing through a swinging door that led to the kitchen. Derek was already dreading the next time he and Laura came because Bobbi was going to embarrass the shit out of him with Laura around.

Stiles looked over his shoulder, “That woman is a superhero.”

“What do you mean?” Derek asked.

“The roller skates.” Stiles shuddered, “I worked at a Sonic once for a week before I crashed and burned on the skates.”

Derek’s eyes went wide, “What happened?”

Stiles sighed, “Some genius had the idea to build it on top of a hill, and I went down the hill and into the grass at the bottom of it.”

“Jesus, remind me never to take you to a roller rink.” Derek laughed.

“Please don’t, my wrist still hasn’t forgiven me from breaking it that day.”

Bobbi rolled back up to their table with a plate of curly fries in her hand. She sat them down in the middle of the table and then pushed herself off to roll back to the kitchen.

“We didn’t order these!” Derek called out after her.

Bobbi just shrugged before disappearing behind the door again, “They’re on the house.”

When Derek looked back at Stiles, he saw Stiles staring at the plate of fries with an orgasmic sort of bliss on his face. The way his mouth went slack reminded Derek of the night in the club. Derek didn’t know if he should feel honored that Stiles looked at him the same way he looked at a plate of free fries.

“Sorry, I think I have to dump you for Bobbi.” Stiles said, grabbing a fry and stuffing it in his mouth.

From the way Stiles’ face twisted into pure ecstasy, Derek was pretty sure being compared to the fries with the highest compliment Stiles could have given him.

“So,” Stiles had half a curly cry dangling from his lip like a ring, “tell me more about you.”

Derek immediately shied away from the question, he was terrible at talking about himself, hated keeping secrets from people.

“I’m boring.” Derek said, almost an automatic response.

Stiles laughed, “I hardly believe that.”

“I am!” Derek insisted, aside from being a werewolf Derek was actually pretty boring, “Ask Laura, she’ll be the first to tell you. Hell, ask any of my family.”

“Laura’s mentioned a big family in class a few times, how big is it exactly?” Stiles asked.

Derek tipped his head to the side, “Well, there’s mom and dad, then Laura, then me, then Cora, and our youngest brother Jacob. Uncle Peter and his wife, Anna. Their daughters Camilla, Rosa, and Tana. Aunt Carrie and her wife, Jessica. Grandmother and Grandfather Hale.”

Stiles’ jaw was slack, “Dude. Holy shit.”

Derek laughed, “Those are just the ones in Beacon Hills. Dad has three brothers and two sisters who live in Montana. They each have like three kids, and one of the kids is already married with his own kids. So. Yeah.”

Stiles let out a low whistle, “The Hale family reunion sounds insane.”

“A bit.” Derek shrugged, “When they come to town we sort of…take over. It’s impossible to go anywhere without seeing a Hale.”

“Wow.” Stiles said, almost sounding wistful, “I’ve always wondered what a big family would be like.”

“Only child, right?” Derek asked.

Stiles nodded, “It’s just been me and my dad for a long time now, mom died a long time ago.”

Shit. Derek didn’t mean to open that one up.

“Losing family is terrible.” Derek said, because he always hated the stupid apologies people gave upon finding out something like that, “We lost our oldest brother a few years ago, Mark. I know it’s not the same, but…”

“It sucks just the same.” Stiles said, clearing his throat, “Well, this was some fun first date talk.”

Derek let out a surprised laugh, “Shit. Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Stiles cocked his head to the side and let out a low hum, “Does this technically count as a first date?”

“I think?” Derek was confused.

Stiles laughed, “I mean, I guess it depends on what we call the night at the club.”

Derek instantly had flashbacks. He thought of Stiles’ lips, of his arms, the way Stiles lifted him and shoved him into the wall.

Derek felt his face heating up, “I’ve never had a first date start like that.”

Stiles laughed, “Me either.”

Derek had only ever had one first date in his life, and that involved his mom driving him and Paige to the movie theatre and then them walking to a small café downtown for coffee afterwards. There wasn’t even a kiss on that date, and Derek certainly never picked Paige up and shoved her against the wall to kiss her. Derek felt out of practice, slightly intimidated, but he tried not to let is show. The date was going well so far, and he didn’t want anything to ruin it.

Bobbie rolled back over to their table with their food, skidding to a stop and placing two steaming hot plates in front of them. Stiles let out a gluttonous groan when he saw his food, and Derek tried to not let it affect him. Tried being the operative word.

Bobbie smiled at Derek, “You two enjoy.”

Derek picked up his fork, broke the crust of the pie, and inhaled deeply as the scent of it filled his nose. It instantly reminded him of home, of their Sunday night family dinners when his dad would make mountains of food for everyone. He took a bite, savoring the flavor, and looked up to find Stiles looking at him with a small smile.

Derek swallowed, “What?”

“Nothing.” Stiles shook his head, “You just look really cute right now.”

Derek was glad he’d already swallowed his food, because he probably would have choked on a piece of chicken.

“That looks really good.” Stiles said, “My mom made the best pot pies.”

Derek looked down at his plate, then back at Stiles, and slide the plate hallway across the table, “Try it. It’s heavenly.”

Stiles’ eyes went wide, “Food sharing on the first date? Wow, that’s really forward.”

Derek laughed, tried to manage a cool shrug, “I mean, you’ve had your tongue in my mouth so…”

Stiles, mid bite, did choke on a piece of chicken. His face went red, and he slapped the table top a few times before reaching for his drink and downing half of it. He made one last gasp for air before he started to laugh.

“Dude!” Stiles said, in between fits of giggles, “You can’t just say stuff like that while I’m trying to savor the flavor of food!”

Derek bit his lip, feeling slightly embarrassed, “Sorry.”

He startled a bit when he felt Stiles’ foot hook around his under the table. He thought it was maybe an accident at first, but the longer it stayed there the more Derek began to realize it was intentional. He took a deep breath, and then pressed his leg back against Stiles’ Stiles smiled at him shyly before eating a few more fries.

They traded a few more stories over dinner, Stiles telling Derek about his roommate Scott, about the insanely good deal they’d gotten for an apartment off campus that they’d lived in for the last two years, about the time that the fire department had to take the door off the bathroom because Stiles had gotten himself locked inside when there was no one else home to help him.

“It’s not my fault someone installed the lock backwards.” Stiles huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.  

Derek traded stories about his childhood, slightly omitting the more supernatural details. He told Stiles about the time he’d gotten banned from the grocery store as a kid for eating handfuls of candy out of the bulk bins, about the time Cora bit her teacher and had to transfer schools because the woman refused to be in the same room as her, about the time that Laura climbed a tree and had gotten stuck so high up that their neighbor who had a cherry picker had to come get her out.

“How long was she up there?” Stiles asked.

Derek tipped his head to the side and thought about it, “She was gone for like four hours before anyone noticed.”

“Four hours?” Stiles gaped.

“We live in the preserve,” Derek said, “it wasn’t unusual for one of us to go on some wild adventure without telling anyone.”

“Damn.” Stiles looked impressed.

“Mom only realized something was wrong when she went out back to pick a few vegetables from the garden for dinner and she heard Laura yelling for help.”

Derek didn’t mention the fact that his mom heard Laura yelling from five miles away, or the fact that she ripped right out of her clothes and into her full shift to cover those five miles in under two minutes.

“Don’t bring it up,” Derek warned him, “she’s very sensitive about it.”

Stiles nodded seriously as if he was committing it to memory, “Noted.”

Bobbi rolled back to their table and took their plates, “Dessert?”

Derek shook his head, “I don’t think I can eat anything for the next two days.”

Stiles laughed, “I’m stuffed too.”

“Alright.” Bobbi pulled the bill out of her apron and eyed them both.

Derek didn’t want to make things awkward, so he reached for the bill, but Stiles’ hand beat him to it. He plucked the paper out of Bobbi’s fingers, took her offered pen, used his phone as a calculator, then scribbled onto the paper and handed it back to her with a card from his wallet.

Bobbi watched him the entire time, and when she saw Stiles wasn’t looking she tapped Derek on the shoulder, winked, and nodded at Stiles in appreciation.

“I could have paid.” Derek said.

He certainly wasn’t hurting for money, not with the size of their family account. He had planned n paying for the whole evening from the start, but Stiles just shrugged.

“You can pay for our second date.”

Derek opened his mouth, but the words were lost on him. Bobbi rolled back to the table, smiled at Stiles, and handed him his card back.

Not to be outdone, Derek walked a few paces ahead of Stiles and held the door for him as they left the diner. Stiles smiled, bumping Derek’s hand with his own, and stepped outside. Derek checked the time on his phone and was surprised to see how late it was, he and Stiles had spent the last few hours inside the diner.

“Where did you park?” Stiles asked, stopping close to him.

“Oh.” Derek groaned internally, “I, uh, walked.”

“You walked?” Stiles looked at him, blinking, “Derek, we’re like ten miles away from the campus.”

Derek slowly started to realize he’d had no plan for this. Maybe he subconsciously expected the date to go terribly, for Stiles to literally run out the door at the sight of him, so he didn’t think of a rational explanation for walking ten miles just for a date. If he was smart, he would have borrowed the Camaro from Laura, but Derek wasn’t smart and now he was a dumb werewolf who’d walked ten miles just for a date without even realizing it. 

“Oh,” Derek laughed, maybe a little manically, “I…took the bus! From campus, yes, the bus. Before the date, I had something else to do around here so I took the bus. The bus.”

“The bus?” Stiles asked with a smile.

Derek nodded, resolutely, “The bus.”

Stiles laughed, “That makes a lot more sense than you hoofing it ten miles just to go on a date with me. The thought of that _is_ flattering though.”

Derek would walk 20 miles to go on another date with Stiles.

Stiles angled his head over his shoulder, “My jeep is parked around the block, it’s pretty late so I can drop you off at campus on my way home if you want.”

Derek. In an enclosed space. With Stiles.

“Yeah.” Derek said, “That would be awesome. If you don’t mind.”

Stiles smiled again, “I wouldn’t have offered if I minded.”

They walked in a companionable silence, their hands occasionally brushing as they swung next to each other. It was cliché as hell, and it was nice. Derek never thought he’d feel the same tightness and warmth in his chest after Paige ran away screaming from him in the night, but the feeling was simmering in his chest now. It flared to life every time their skin touched, and Derek wanted to prolong it for as long as he could.

“Here we are.” Stiles waved his hands at a powder blue jeep parked next to an empty meter.

Derek had seen the jeep cruising around campus before, but he never realized it belonged to Stiles.

“It’s awesome.” Derek smiled, “Vintage?”

Stiles nodded, “It was my mom’s. It runs like shit and doesn’t start half the time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Stiles walked around to the driver side, hopped in, and reached across the center console to unlock the door for Derek. Derek climbed in and was immediately assaulted by the strangest and most pleasant mix of scents. There was pure white joy, bone deep blue sadness, burning red anger, bright green laughter. The jeep smelled like life, like a million and one technicolor lives were lived out in a single vehicle.

It made him look at Stiles with a sense of wonder.

Stiles groaned as the jeep didn’t turn over on the first try, “I promise she’ll work, she just takes a minute to wake up.”

Derek gave him a half smile, “I have faith in her.”

As if those were the magic words, the jeep sprung to life. It rumbled beneath them, the scent of gas and exhaust mixing with the years of life inside the jeep.

“Holy shit,” Stiles’ jaw dropped, “you’re the Roscoe whisperer. It normally takes me like five tries to get her going. Fuck, it took me like fifteen this morning.”

Derek tipped his head back and laughed, patting the dashboard, “Thanks for listening, Roscoe.”

Stiles’ eyes were almost shimmering as he looked at Derek, and before Derek had the time to process what that look meant Stiles had turned his head back to the front and was starting to guide the jeep out of its spot.

“I had fun tonight.” Stiles said as he pulled to a stop at a red light.

Derek looked over at him, “Me too.”

The light turned green and Stiles pulled forward, “Does that mean we get to have a second date? Because I, personally, would love to have a second date.”

“Yes Stiles,” Derek leaned back against the seat, “we get to have a second date.”

Stiles looked at him out of the corner of his eye, “What about a third?”

That startled another laugh out of Derek, “I’d like that too.”

“Cool.” Stiles said, right as Derek’s phone started to ring.

“Sorry.” Derek said, pulling his phone out.

His stomach flipped when he saw that it was Laura calling him. Laura wouldn’t be calling him unless something happened while she was out hunting with Kira. Derek tried not to let his hands shake too much as he looked over at Stiles.

“Sorry, it’s Laura.”

Stiles waved away the two apologies, “Answer it, we’re almost back to campus anyway.”

Derek nodded, answering, “Laura.”

“Der,” Laura said, in the bright cherry tone that she used when she tried to pretend everything was OK when it totally wasn’t, “how’s your night going?”

“Good.” Derek said, “I’m still with Stiles.”

Laura laughed, “Tell him I said hi.”

Derek sighed, turning to Stiles, “Laura said hi.”

“Hi, Laura!” Stiles said, turning onto the campus.

“Did everything go OK with Kira?” Derek asked.

“Right,” Laura stretched the word out for a few needless seconds, “about that.”

Derek’s voice dropped, “Laura, are you OK?”

“Yeas, yes.” Laura said, “Kira, tell Derek’s we’re both OK.”

Derek could see Stiles looking at him with a small frown, but he was focused on Laura and Kira.

“We’re fine, Derek.” Kira said, echoing in the background, “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“What happened?” Derek asked.

“Well, we found it.” Laura said, “And now I get why we have to rip it’s legs off to kill it.”

Kira laughed, “They’re huge!”

“Laura!” Derek snapped, “Stay on topic!”

Laura growled, “Stop being rude! We’re fine, we got into a fight with it, stopped it from eating some poor guys brain, and it just got away.”

“You’re both OK?” Derek asked.

“We’re fine,” Laura said, “I’ve already healed, and Kira is working on herself right now.”

“What happened?” Derek somehow managed to keep his eyes from flashing.

Derek heard mumbling on the other line, then a low thump, and the phone went silent for a few seconds until Kira answered, voice sounding clear, “We’re really fine, Der. Laura just got cut up by some webs and I got stabbed in the shoulder by her freakishly long spider legs but we’re good. She got away, but Laura was able to cut one of her legs off while she stabbed me with it, and we saved the life of some poor frat guy.”

Derek let out a long breath, “Where are-”

“We’re at Laura’s apartment, and no you’re not coming over. Finish your date with Stiles, and then get some sleep because we’re going to extract information from you about it all day tomorrow.”

“Kira…” Derek trailed off.

“Nope!” Kira said, “Love you, Laura says she loves you too. Bye!”

The phone clicked, and Derek checked just to make sure that Kira actually hung up on him. He shook his head when he saw the call ended screen, locked his phone, and leaned back in the seat.

“Everything OK?” Stiles asked, “You look worried.”

Derek opened his eyes, surprised to find they were stopped in front of his dorm. He hadn’t even realized they’d been stationary for a few minutes. Stiles was looking at him with wide eyes of concern, and it settled a part in Derek that he didn’t think existed anymore.

“Yeah.” Derek said, “My friend Kira got into a fender bender.”

Derek’s heart ached at the lie, he didn’t want to lie to someone he liked so much. But telling the truth had fucked him over enough, and he wanted to hold onto whatever this was for as long as he could.

“Shit.” Stiles said, “Is she OK?”

Derek nodded, “She’s with Laura. Kira’s been my best friend since we were in diapers, so they’re close too.”

Stiles smiled, reaching out and resting a hand on top of Derek’s, “I can take you over there if you want?”

Derek savored the warmth of Stiles’ hand, but shook his head, “No, it’s fine. They’ll kill me if I show up.”

“OK.” Stiles laughed as he pulled his hand away, “Can I walk you to your door then?”

Derek was about to ask Stiles if he was serious, but Stiles was out of the jeep and walking around to his door before he could say anything. Derek undid his seatbelt, and Stiles popped open the passenger side door with a grin. Derek laughed as he jumped out, following the direction of Stiles’ sweeping arm. Stiles walked next to him silently as they made their way through the front door, pausing to swipe Derek’s ID and to wait for the elevator.

Derek didn’t want to cross any boundaries, but he wasn’t able to ignore the scent of Stiles’ nerves when they were in the enclosed walls of the elevator. He seemed calm and collected, but his heartbeat was unsteady, and he radiated a nervous aura. The elevator reached Derek’s floor and they walked down to the end of the hall, stopping in front of the door that had D. Hale etched onto a whiteboard.

“Well, this is it.” Derek said, pointing to the door.

“Yeah.” Stiles’ eyes flitted to Derek’s lips before quickly going back to his face.

Derek was beginning to understand where the nervousness was coming from. Stiles was nervous because he felt like he was too aggressive at the club, and he probably didn’t want to come off that way again. Derek couldn’t blame him, especially not after how Derek reacted that night.

Derek knew if he wanted a kiss, he’d have to be the one to initiate it. He smiled, took a step forward, and pushed himself up on his toes just a fraction of an inch so they were on equal ground. Derek saw Stiles’ lips turn up into a small smile just before they made contact, and they parted the second Derek’s lips touched his.

It wasn’t as feverish as the club, there was considerably less sexual tension, but it felt more meaningful. The way Stiles’ hands came to rest on Derek’s hips, the way he pulled Derek closer so their chests were touching, the way his whole body shuddered when Derek’s hands found the small of his back.

Derek finally broke the kiss, because someone had to, and when he pulled away he found Stiles looking completely wrecked. His eyes were half-lidded, his lips red, and his breath uneven. Derek didn’t think he could ever make anyone look as blown out as Stiles was.

“Fuck.” Stiles whispered, “You’re such a good kisser.”

Derek’s cheeks burned, “Shut up.”

“You are,” Stiles said again, “I could do this all night. Which is dangerous.”

Derek swallowed, his throat bobbing, “Yes. Very dangerous.”

Stiles lifted his hand up, pressing it to Derek’s so their palms were flat against each other, “Danger, Will Robinson.”

Derek kissed him one more time, a quick peck on the lips, before he forced himself to turn and unlock the door. Stiles lingered for just a moment longer before smiling and turning on his heel, “Get some sleep, Derek Hale.”

“You too, Stiles Stilinski.”

Derek closed the door and was relieved to find the other side of the room empty. His head thumped against the door as he let it fall back, and he looked at his bed and tried to ignore the feelings in his chest that were telling him he’d sleep better if Stiles was in the bed with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed! comments sustain me!


	3. i’m a creature with a fever so high

 

 

3

i’m a creature with a fever so high

 

Derek leaned against the wall that was directly across from Laura’s lecture hall. He’d gotten out of his history class a few minutes early, so he’d booked it across campus to try and make it to Laura’s class before it let out. He wanted to surprise Stiles, take him to a nice lunch before his shift at the restaurant since Stiles had spent most of last night talking about dreading going into work today because the entire restaurant was booked out for a party.

Derek pulled out his phone and checked the time, and the door opened to let out a flood of students just as he slid it back into his pocket. He aimed for casual as he leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest as he waited for Stiles to filter out with the rest of the class. In the week since their first date they’d gone on three more, including one where they just spent an hour making out in Derek’s dorm room until his roommate walked in and made it awkward.

He was slowly relearning how to enjoy time with someone without worrying about a potential werewolf sized disaster in the future.

The last of the students trickled out of the class, splitting off and waving goodbye to their friends. Derek frowned when he realized Stiles never made it out with the rest of the class. He’d talked to Stiles earlier in the day and he didn’t mention anything about being sick and skipping class, so Derek took a step forward to enter the hall.

Which was when he heard Laura’s voice, and Stiles’ pounding heart.

“So, I hear you’re getting pretty cozy with my brother.” Laura said, her voice tap dancing on the line of human and future alpha.

“Yes?” Stiles said, obviously nervous.

Laura hummed, “Is that a question? Are you, or are you not spending time with my little brother.”

“We are!” Stiles said, “But, depending on how you define cozy…”

Derek could almost hear Laura’s eyebrow arch, he knew the face well, “Do you want to have sex with my brother?”

Derek almost fell over. He was torn between rushing in to save Stiles from the interrogation, and his morbid curiosity at what Stiles would say.

“I…feel like this conversation violates some kind of teacher/student ethics rule?” Stiles laughed awkwardly.

“So would me breaking all your fingers if you hurt my brother.” Laura said, her voice sickly sweet, “I’m not worried about the rules.”

Stiles let out an almost inaudible whine, but Laura’s snort told Derek that she’d heard it just perfectly.

“I like Derek. A lot.” Stiles said, his voice surprisingly confident for how hard his heart was beating. Laura could hear through the false vibrato, but Derek was sure she’d give him points for it.

“Good.” Laura said, “Because I like you a lot, and I’d hate to have to stop liking you because you were just using my brother. You break his heart, I break your bones.”

Stiles was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke, “I really like him, Laura. I can’t promise that I’ll never hurt him, because I’m just human, but I’d never do anything intentionally.”

Derek’s heart swooped.

“Good.” Laura’s voice was lighter now, lacking the hostility of a protective older sister, “Der doesn’t let people get close to him easily, I hope you realize how lucky you are.”

Derek couldn’t listen in anymore. He was already feeling guilty about hearing what Stiles had to say, he didn’t want to know how Stiles would have replied to that. He cleared his throat just loud enough for Laura to hear him, and then swung open the door to her lecture hall.

Laura looked up at him with a smug grin, and Derek tried his best to immolate her with the power of his eyebrows. His look of reproach didn’t last long though, not with the way Stiles’ smile grew when he saw Derek. It was like the last few minutes of Laura’s threatening act hadn’t happened, there wasn’t a trace of anxiety on him.

“Derek, how surprising.” Laura said, her voice thick with sarcasm.

“Laura.”

“What’re you doing here?” Stiles said, his head cocked to the side.

Derek shrugged casually, “I got out of class early and I thought I’d come save you from my sister.”

Laura rolled her eyes, slinging an arm around Stiles’ shoulder, “You don’t need to be saved, do you?”

“Nah.” Stiles shrugged, Laura’s arm moving with his shoulder, “But I am glad to see you.”

Derek couldn’t hide his smile. He absently wondered when he was going to stop feeling like such a lovesick kid around Stiles, but he couldn’t deny he enjoyed the feeling. Laura unhooked her arm from Stiles, and mimed gagging herself with her finger behind his back. In Derek’s opinion, Laura was just jealous because she and Jordan had been out of the honeymoon phase of their relationship for years now.

Derek made his way down the stairs of the hall, stopping to place a quick kiss on Stiles’ lips before hooking his arm through Stiles’ and linking them together at the elbow, “I wanted to take you to lunch before work.”

“Aw,” Stiles elbowed him playfully in the side, “don’t ever let anyone tell you those eyebrows make you look intimidating, you’re such a softie.”

Laura gagged for real this time, “My god, you two are disgusting.”

“She’s just jealous,” Derek leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “the last time Jordan took her on a surprise dinner date they ended up at Chipotle.”

“Because Jordan knows I would sell my first-born child for a burrito bowl.” Laura waved her hand dismissively, “Get out of my classroom before I suffocate from the hormones in here.”

Derek arched an eyebrow at the wording, but Laura just shrugged. Stiles unlinked their arms and turned to give Laura a two fingered salute.

“See you later, prof.”

“Call me that again and see what happens.” Laura narrowed her eyes, “And don’t forget you have a paper due on Friday.”

Stiles cracked another smile, “Finished it last night.”

“Of course you did.” Laura rolled her eyes, “I have papers to grade. Enjoy your lunch, I’m turning my phone off so try not to get arrested for public indecency for the next few hours because I won’t be able to bail you out.”

Derek made his way up the stairs, Stiles trailing next to him, “Noted.”

They made their way out of Laura’s class. Stiles laughed softly when Derek leaned forward to hold the door open for him.

“Gag me with a spoon.” Laura’s voice softly drifted to Derek’s ears.

Derek discretely flicked her off behind his back, and then closed the door before she could retaliate. The sun was hidden behind black storm clouds by the time they made it outside, and Derek could feel the telltale change in air pressure that signaled a storm. The wind blew, and if he tipped his head just slightly he could smell the oncoming rain that was still miles away.

Stiles was looking up at the sky frowning, “Ugh, rain.”

“We’ve still got a few hours before it hits us.” Derek said, looking at him from the side.

“How can you tell that?” Stiles looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Shit.

“My…arm hurts when it’s about to rain and it doesn’t hurt yet?” Derek fumbled over the words, unable to stop the nonsense that came out.

“You’ve broken your arm before?” Stiles asked.

“Yes.” Derek lied.

Stiles nodded, “Cool. My dad swears he can tell when it’s going to rain because the pinky finger he broke when he was twelve starts throbbing.

Derek let out a small breath. He hated lying to Stiles, and he hated that he kept having to because of his slip ups. He’d spent the majority of his time with his family or Kira, people he obviously didn’t need to hide himself from. But Stiles didn’t know about him, couldn’t know about him, and Derek was finding it increasingly hard to stop inadvertently exposing himself.

Luckily, Stiles just thought Derek was weird and he seemed to like it. It didn’t take away the sting of having to lie to Stiles though.

They walked close enough for their hands to brush against each other as they moved. They dodged the groups of students moving to classes until made it to the intersections of the campus main street. Derek looked to both sides of the road before grabbing Stiles’ hand and leading him across the intersection and down the street to the small restaurant.

“Dude,” Stiles grinned, looking up at the sign, “tacos?”

Derek laughed, nodding, “Tacos make everything better.”

Stiles surged forward, grabbing both sides of Derek’s head and pulling him in for a kiss. A few people walking by whistled at them while clapping, but Derek tuned them out. When Stiles pulled away, Derek was blushing.

 

-

 

“Do you think Spider-Woman is gone?” Kira asked, looking at Derek upside down as her head hung off the edge of her bed.

Kira’s arms were spread out across the length of her bed, and her legs were propped up against the wall, crossed at the ankles. Her face was starting to go red from all the blood rushing to it, but Derek just smiled fondly and shook his head.

“Doubt it.” Derek said.

“It’s been two weeks,” Kira pointed out, “maybe the ass kicking Laura and I gave it scared it off.”

Derek arched an eyebrow, “You call getting stabbed by it an ass kicking?”

“I still cut one of her arms off.” Kira rolled her eyes.

Derek sighed and closed the book he was reading, sitting it to the side, “She’s probably just hiding in her…lair.”

“Her lair?” Kira laughed.

Derek flicked her in the nose, “That’s what the book called it, not me. She has a lair where she takes her food back to eat.”

“I think it’s pretty sad when two werewolves and a kitsune can’t find a simple _lair_.” Kira sighed, sitting upright in her bed and spinning around to face Derek.

They’d been out looking for it almost every night, but none of them were able to pick up the scent of the spider. Derek wanted to call their mom for help, but Laura was hell bent on solving this problem on her own. Derek understood, for the most part, but Laura had growled at him when he suggested that maybe her desire to please their Alpha was costing innocent people their lives. Derek let it go, ultimately because Laura was the future alpha.

“So,” Kira said, faux-casual, “how are things with Stiles?”

Derek tried to fight off his sickly-sweet grin, but the look on Kira’s face told him he was unsuccessful.

“You know how they are, I tell you everything.” Derek pointed out.

Kira laughed, “I know, I just like to see the look you get on your face when anyone says his name.”

“I…” Derek’s jaw dropped, “I do _not_ get a look on my face when I hear his name.”

Kira smirked, “Stiles.”

Derek smiled, thinking of the way Stiles laughed with his entire body.

“Stiles, Stiles, Stiles.”

Derek thought of the way Stiles talked about his dad, about his friends, about his mother. Derek thought of the way Stiles’ fingers always skimmed across the back of his knuckles, touch feather light, when he wanted to hold Derek’s hand as they walked. Derek thought of the way Stiles gasped when he licked his Adam’s apple, the way Stiles unknowingly always offered up his throat to Derek.

Kira cleared her throat, and when Derek’s eyes focused he saw the small mirror she was holding in front of him. Derek was smiling, his eyes half lidded, his features relaxed and happy. Shit, he _did_ make a face when he was thinking about Stiles.

Kira pulled the mirror back and stuck her tongue out at him, “Told you.”

 

-

 

The streets were crowded, filled with people wandering from booth to booth. Derek usually avoided these events like the plague, he hated being around such large groups of people with so many of his senses being assaulted at once. But Derek had been unable to resist the look of pure excitement on Stiles’ face when he mentioned the festival downtown, so they ended up there on Saturday night.

The were small attractions set up around the downtown area, including a bouncy house that Derek _would_ pop with his claws if he was forced to go in. There were rows of carnival games, vendors, food, and Derek almost melted at the way Stiles moaned when he saw a sign advertising funnel cakes.

“I’m glad you came with me.” Stiles said, bumping his shoulder into Derek’s.

Derek smiled, “Who doesn’t love…all of this.”

Stiles tipped his head back and laughed, “I know this isn’t your idea of an enjoyable time, but I’m glad you’re here. Scott and I normally come together every year, but he’s studying overseas. This is nice, because with Scott I usually wind up a third wheel to him and Allison.”

“Look at us, the only two wheels in sight.” Derek said, sliding his hand into Stiles’.

“You’re such a nerd.” Stiles barked out a laugh, “I love it.”

Derek squeezed his hand, smiling at the way Stiles’ pulse jumped.

They made their way to the rows of carnival games. Derek looked at each of them with a critical eye, trying to figure out just how they were rigged against the player. He figured the baseball toss game would be the easiest option to win without using too much non-human strength, because there was no way Derek was coming to something like this without winning a prize for Stiles.

Derek stopped in front of the booth, untangling his hand from Stiles’, and pulling out his wallet. He pulled out a $5 bill and handed it to the attendant, who handed him three baseballs in return. He picked up one, tossed it in the air a few times to test the weight of it. It shouldn’t be too hard to knock over a stack of bottles, even if they were weighted inside the prevent most people from winning the game.

“You gonna win a prize for me, Der?” Stiles asked with a smile on his face.

Derek nodded resolutely and pointed to the large stuffed wolf hanging from the back of the booth, “That one.”

The attendant laughed condescendingly, “You’ve gotta knock down the whole stack for that, kid.”

Derek glared at him.

Stiles leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, “For good luck.”

Derek cleared his throat and ignored the rising blush on his cheeks. He took a deep breath, pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, pulled his arm back, and threw the first baseball. It hit the very middle bottom of the stack, knocking the bottom level out and sending the entire tower tumbling to the ground. The booth attendant looked at the bottles on the ground with his jaw open and eyes wide. Derek gave him a smug look, he hadn’t intended on showing off so much, but the guy pissed him off.

“Holy shit!” Stiles cheered, wrapping his arms around Derek and lifting him off the ground.

Derek laughed, smoothing out his shirt as Stiles put him back on the ground, “A lucky shot?”

“A fucking awesome shot!” Stiles grinned and then turned to the booth attendant, knocking on the wooden table, “I believe you owe the man a wolf.”

The attendant blinked at them for a second before grumbling and reaching up to unclip the stuffed wolf. He handed it to Derek before leaning down to pick up the scattered bottles. Derek held the wolf in his arms, running his hands over the black synthetic fur. It was soft to the touch, and Derek got a secret thrill out of the fact that the wolf had two ice blue plastic eyes.

He handed the wolf to Stiles, and goosebumps rose on his skin as Stiles pulled it close and pressed his face into the wolf. It felt like something larger, like Derek giving Stiles a part of himself that he was still too scared to reveal. Derek silently chastised himself, feeling stupid for applying so much emotion to a cheap stuffed wolf.

“I’ll sleep with it every night.” Stiles smiled.

Derek bit back a pleased rumble in the back of his throat, “Good.”

Stiles held the wolf under one arm as they walked away from the rows of games in search of food. Stiles was on a single-minded quest for funnel cake, but Derek just wanted something that didn’t smell like week old fryer oil. Derek claimed a small picknick table while Stiles went off to grab them food, insisting he pay for it because Derek won him the wolf. He handed Derek the wolf, softly pressing it into his hands before he walked away.

Derek sat on top of the table, his feet resting on the bench. He bounced his legs, and the wolf along with it, until he heard someone call out his name.

“Der!”

Derek knew the voice, and turned his head to see Jordan walking towards him in full uniform. Derek barely suppressed a groan, because he knew that meant Laura was around somewhere. Laura hadn’t mentioned coming to the fair, but he suspected that was just because she knew Derek wouldn’t want to go. He could probably find her if he focused his senses, but that would require him to risk catching a whiff of the porta-a-potties a few blocks away and he didn’t want to chance it.

“Jordan, hey.” Derek waved at him.

Jordan dodged a few kids tossing a ball before he made it to the edge of the table. He rested his hands on the table, eyeing the stuffed wolf with something like amusement.

“A bit on the nose?” Jordan grinned, pointing at the wolf.

Derek growled, “It’s not mine.”

Jordan reached out and ruffled the wolf’s fur first, before doing the same to Derek’s hair. Derek leaned into the touch for just a second before he jerked his head away and snapped at him with his teeth. Jordan just laughed and rolled his eyes, dropping down onto the bench next to Derek’s legs. Derek kicked him softly, hoping he would get the hint and leave before Stiles came back. It ha the opposite effect, and Jordan settled back against the table.

Laura and Jordan had been together for so long that it was hard not to view Jordan as an older brother, though he would never replace Mark.

“I leave you alone for two seconds and you get the police called on you?” Stiles said, his voice coming from behind them.

Stiles was holding two paper plates, one in each hand, which were piled high with fried dough and powdered sugar. Derek could smell the acrid sweetness as the wind blew, but he wasn’t too revolted by it.

“Stiles?” Jordan said, turning around and looking at him with a confused look on his face.

“Parrish?”

And right, Stiles’ dad was Jordan’s boss.

“How do you know Stiles?” Jordan asked Derek.

“We’re, uh, dating.” Derek said.

Jordan’s eyes went wide, “This is your mystery boyfriend Laura wouldn’t tell me about?”

“Why are you on a first name basis with my boyfriend and one of my professors?” Stiles asked, still looking confused.

“Laura and Jordan have been dating for like four years.” Derek said.

“Five next month.” Jordan elbowed him in the side, “Small world, huh?”

“Babe!” Laura’s voice rang out from somewhere in the crowd.

“Over here!” Jordan yelled back.

Laura pushed her way through a sea of children a few seconds later, her hands resting on her hips. Her hair was disheveled, and there was a grass stain on her jeans.

“What happened to you?” Jordan laughed.

Laura growled at him, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Laura’s eyes locked onto Derek next, “Holy shit.”

Derek waved, “Hey.”

“How are you here?” Laura asked, “Fun things are happening and you’re here. Am I dreaming? Did I die? Jordan are we dead?”

“Stop being overdramatic,” Jordan rolled his eyes, “Der is here with Stiles. Who you neglected to mention was his boyfriend.”

“Stiles!” Laura beamed, pulling him into a hug, “You made my brother do something fun!”

Stiles laughed, “I didn’t make him do anything.”

Derek leaned into Jordan’s side to whisper, “Did she spike her beer?”

“Oh yeah.” Jordan shook his head with a fond sigh.

“We should all do something!” Laura said excitedly, “Double date! It would be so fun!”

“No!” Derek said immediately, “Never. Not happening.”

Jordan huffed out a laugh, the kind of laugh that only someone who had ever dealt with a drunken Laura before could make. He gave Derek an apologetic look and then walked over to Laura, looping his arm around her waist and pulling her gently away from Stiles.

“Why don’t we leave Der to his date, huh?” Jordan asked her, flashing his best smile, “We can plan a double date later.”

“Promise?” Laura looked at Stiles with wide eyes.

“Uh, sure?” Stiles looked at Derek and shrugged.

Laura narrowed her eyes, “You’re lying, but I’ll let you get away with it.”

“Thank you?” Stiles took a few steps towards Derek.

“You guys have a good rest of your night.” Jordan said over his shoulder as they walked away.

“That was weird.” Stiles said as soon as they were far enough away.

Derek rolled his eyes, “Laura doesn’t drink often, but she goes hard when she does.”

“I can’t believe she’s dating Parrish,” Stiles pulled off a piece of funnel cake a handed it to Derek, “A lot of his stories about his girlfriend suddenly make a lot more sense now.”

Derek laughed, “Don’t let her hear you say that.”

 

-

 

“Stiles, it’s one in the morning. Why are we standing in line waiting for waffles?”

Derek eyed the line in front of them, it was probably about thirty people deep and didn’t seem to be moving any faster than it had in the last twenty minutes. Stiles had dragged Derek across the city because he couldn’t stop raving about this supposedly amazing waffle place that only opened at 1am.

“They’re the best waffles you’ll ever taste, Derek.” Stiles clutched his hand, “I _promise_ you that they are lifechanging.”

Derek arched a dubious brow, “Lifechanging waffles? Really?”

“They are!” Stiles insisted, “They even have savory ones, because we both know you’re lacking in the sweet tooth department.”

Derek huffed, “Just because I don’t like to eat two gallons of ice cream in two hours like _someone_ doesn’t mean that I don’t have a sweet tooth. Honestly, I don’t know how you have the body that you do with the way you eat.”

Derek was suddenly aware of how close Stiles was, “You like my body, huh?”

Stiles was all but purring in his ear, and Derek jolted when Stiles lightly bit at it. Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek, pulling him in close so Derek’s back was pressed against his chest. Stiles’ fingers danced along the band of Derek’s pants and it took every ounce of control Derek had to swat those hands away.

“Hate you.” Derek said, his voice heavy.

Stiles laughed, his breath tickling the back of Derek’s neck, “No you don’t.”

“Oh my god, get a room.” Someone in line behind them groaned.

Stiles laughed and untangled his arms from Derek’s body. Derek took a deep breath, smoothed down his rumpled clothing, and craned his head around to see the rest of the line. It still didn’t seem like it was moving, and Derek just wanted to get back into the bed that Stiles had pulled him out of on his quest for midnight waffles.

“The line hasn’t moved in almost half an hour, I’m going to see what’s happening up front.” Derek said.

“This better not be an excuse to escape.” Stiles cocked his head to the side.

Derek rolled his eyes, “I’ll be right back.”

It didn’t take Derek long to make it to the front of the line, and it was immediately clear why the line hadn’t moved the entire time they were in it. Derek could see inside the small shop, and he had a perfect view of the drunken college student standing on top of the table waving a serving tray over his head like a weapon. Derek could hear approaching sirens, so he made his way back to Stiles. Derek was already preparing himself for the disappointed look on Stiles’ face when he told him there wouldn’t be any waffles.

Except Stiles was gone when Derek made it back to their spot in line. He pulled out his phone to see if Stiles’ had texted him, but there were no messages. He could still smell Stiles, but Derek wasn’t sure if it was just the lingering scent of Stiles on his clothes.

“Did you see where the guy I was with went?” Derek asked the person who was behind them in line.

The girl shrugged, “He just left.”

“Which way did he go?” Derek asked.

She pointed over her shoulder, “Sorry you got ditched.”

Stiles wouldn’t have ditched him. There was no way. Derek didn’t even entertain that thought as he walked to the back of the line to try and pick of Stiles’ trail. He called Stiles’ phone, but it went straight to voicemail. Derek was trying not to panic, but it wasn’t working out that well. They weren’t too far from the place where the Jorōgumo had attacked him a few weeks before, and Derek couldn’t help but worry that it had finally come out of hiding after its fight with Laura and Kira.

What were the chances of Stiles’ being trapped by it though? Out of everyone on the street, why would Stiles be the one it went after? There was no way, that couldn’t be what was happening. There was a perfectly good explanation for all of this, and Derek would laugh at himself for being overly paranoid once he found out what it was.

The wind carried Stiles’ scent as it blew, and Derek raced after it. It smelled like he was only another block away, which meant he couldn’t have gone far. Derek rounded the corner and caught a glimpse of Stiles’ red hoodie disappearing into the mouth of a dark alley.

“No, no, no.” Derek yelled, “Stiles! Stop!”

Derek knew he should call Laura, or Kira, someone, but he didn’t have time. He didn’t think, he just reacted. He raced after Stiles, his feet pounding the pavement as he came to a stop at the mouth of the alley Stiles was in. He could see Stiles standing about halfway down, but the way to him was blocked off by razor sharp webs.

“Stiles!” Derek yelled, “Stiles, say away from her!”

Derek could see the Jorōgumo at the other end of the alley. He watched as she disrobed, revealing porcelain pale skin. She cracked her head to the side and her long hair flowed freely down her back. She tipped her head up and let out a deafening screech as seven long, black arms ripped out of her back. At least the one Kira cut off didn’t grow back. When she opened her eyes, Derek saw eight blood red points of light looking back at him.

Stiles wasn’t moving, but Derek could still hear his heart beating. It was slower than normal, probably a side effect of the Jorōgumo’s compulsion. He couldn’t let her have Stiles, he _wouldn’t_ let her.  

Derek shifted, letting out a wicked roar as the bones in his face cracked and reformed. He felt his claws grow, tested them as they pricked against his soft palms. He could see the dark alley perfectly now as his blue eyes blazed through the darkness. He could see every individual strand of webbing, and all the crawling spiders the Jorōgumo had littering the ground.

 The Jorōgumo began to move closer to Stiles, and Derek let a snarl rip out of his throat before he launched himself into the alley. He could feel the razor webbing cutting into his skin, but he didn’t care. All he needed to do was clear a path to Stiles so he could get him out safely before the Jorōgumo got to him.  He slashed at the webbing, shredding it with his claws and ignoring the red pools of blood that were forming at the floor of the alley.

He was almost to Stiles, just barely close enough to touch him, when the Jorōgumo jumped into the air. It landed sideways on the wall, the human shell of a body hanging limp as the seven legs of the demon clung to the webbing on the wall. It opened its mouth and spit something at Derek, burning a hole through his leather jacket. Derek ignored the heat and pain as the substance hit his skin. The Spider jumped to the other wall, spitting at him again, but Derek ducked just in time and the poison flew over his head and hit the far wall.

“Stiles!” Derek reached out and twisted a clawed hand in the back of his hoodie, pulling him to the ground.  

Stiles’ eyes were glossy as he looked up at Derek. He was blinking, but there was no sense of anything behind Stiles’ eyes. Derek had to get him away from the spider. He picked Stiles up and cradled him in his arms as he turned his back to the spider. He could still hear it thundering behind them, but Derek was only focused on getting Stiles away from it. He dodged strands of webs he missed on his way down, using as much of his body as he could to shield Stiles from any harm.

Derek stumbled out of the alley, holding Stiles close as he tried to regain his balance. He ran across the street, found the biggest car parked on it, and sat Stiles down behind it. Once he was sure that Stiles was safe, he turned and saw the Jorōgumo burst out of the alley.

Derek’s mother had always cautioned them against public fights, you never knew what place nearby might had a camera outside, but there was no avoiding this one. Derek ran towards the spider, throwing the entire weight of his body into its side. The spider shrieked as Derek dug its claws into the human shell and ripped them downwards. Derek howled as he felt a pair of teeth sink into the skin on his arm, he looked down to see the Spider’s human head biting into his arm with gleaming fangs.

Derek slashed his claws across the face once, twice, three times. The spider let go of him, and Derek drew his hand back and into a fist before he punched her in the face with all his strength. Her body went limp, and Derek kicked her to the side. She rolled across the street, colliding with the brick wall of a drugstore.

Derek could still hear Stiles’ steady heartbeat from behind the car. He walked over to the Jorōgumo intent on ending the whole thing. He stopped in front of the body, wrapped his hands around on of her long legs, and ripped it off with one pull. She sprung back to life with a terrible scream, poison flying from her mouth and burning the stone of the wall behind her. Derek grabbed for a second leg, but she jerked her head to the side and it collided with Derek’s. Derek felt intense pain radiate from his skull through the rest of his body and he stumbled backwards. He was dazed, the world around him spinning, and he couldn’t react fast enough as the Jorōgumo stood, raised a single, sharp leg, and stabbed him with it.

Derek screamed as pain lanced through his body, he looked down and saw his blood pooling against his light grey shirt. She raised another arm, and Derek just barely managed to grab it before it went through his throat. His claws dug into it as he held on with all his strength. The Jorōgumo struggled, pulling her one leg out of Derek’s stomach, and Derek used that leverage to rip another arm off her body.   

The Jorōgumo screamed again, it jumped backwards into the dark ally and retreated. Derek was left standing in place with one spider leg in his hands and a hole in his stomach.

“Derek?”

Derek turned just in time to see Stiles’ wide eyes and gaping mouth. Stiles’ eyes went from Derek’s still shifted face, to the spider leg in his hand, and finally settled on the bleeding wound on his stomach. Derek opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t form any words before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i enjoy comments from people who enjoy reading!


	4. til i’m drunk on the feeling

 

 

 

 

4

til i’m drunk on the feeling

 

 

The first thing Derek noticed when he regained consciousness was that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. He groaned, refusing to open his eyes as his hands pressed against his bare skin. His stomach was fully healed, it felt slightly tender to the touch, probably still a little pink, but even with his eyes closed Derek could tell that there was no longer a gaping hole in between his abs. The second thing Derek noticed was that wherever he was, it smelled overwhelmingly of Stiles. The confusion of that discovery was enough to force Derek to will his eyes open.

The first thing Derek saw was light. It wasn’t bright light, so Derek was pretty sure he wasn’t dead. Derek watched as the ceiling fan circled, blocking out the light overhead for a fraction of a second at a time. He shivered, the air drafting off the fan above blowing over his already damp skin causing a chill to run through his body. Derek sat up, realizing he was in Stiles’ bed in his apartment, and groaned. He wasn’t wearing his glasses, so everything in the room took on a blurry quality. He shifted just enough for his eyes to focus until he found his glasses sitting on the edge of the nightstand.

His torn shirt was on the ground next to the bed. There were several bloody rags in a hamper next to a bowl filled with red tinged water. Derek reached down and felt his stomach again as he realized the damp feeling on his skin must have come from the bowl of water.

Everything suddenly dawned on him at once.

Stiles had seen Derek shifted as he fought the Jorōgumo.

Derek passed out from blood loss and the injuries he’d gotten during the fight.

Stiles had somehow gotten Derek back to his apartment and cleaned him up.

_What the hell?_

Derek pulled the covers back as he got out of the bed. He still had his pants on but they were torn in several places and covered in blood, so they were probably a loss. He looked at his hands and nodded when he found they were fully healed. He hadn’t paid any attention to it at the time, but thinking back he remembered how much it hurt when the sharp edges of the Jorōgumo’s legs cut into his palms.

He could hear the TV on in the living room, and there was only one other heartbeat in the apartment. Derek remembered Stiles telling him his roommate was out of town, which was probably for the best. He pushed himself out of the bed, only to trip on his discarded shoe and stumble into the wall closest to the bed.

The door to the bedroom flew open almost immediately. Stiles stood in the doorway, panting, with blood all over his clothes. Derek panicked for a second thinking Stiles had gotten hurt during the fight, but Derek could smell that it was his blood and not Stiles’. They stared at each other for a moment, Derek unsure of what to do. Stiles took a step forward, and Derek’s base instincts took over. He flinched at Stiles’ movement, taking a few steps backwards until the back of his knees hit the edge of Stiles’ bed and he sat on it.

Stiles stopped moving immediately and held up both of his hands, “Derek?”

Derek listened to Stiles’ heartbeat. It wasn’t steady, but Stiles’ never really was in general. He wasn’t scared, or at least he wasn’t giving off overt signs of fear. He was worried, maybe scared _for_ Derek, but not scared _of_ him.

Derek swallowed, sitting down on the edge of the bed, “Stiles.”

Stiles smiled softly, “Hey, big guy.”

Stiles moved to the closet and pulled out a shirt. His back was to Derek and Derek almost couldn’t believe it, how could Stiles turn his back to him after everything he saw? How could he trust Derek like that?

“You’re not scared of me.” Derek said, his voice coming out raspy.

Stiles froze, his hand on a hanger. Derek watched as his shoulders went from rigid to relaxed, and Stiles pulled the shirt from the hanger and handed it to Derek.

“I’m…confused. I honestly have no idea what’s going on.” Stiles said honestly, “But I’m not scared of you. Why would I be?”

“You _saw_ me.” Derek said, “You saw what I am.”

Derek couldn’t reconcile the differences between Paige and Stiles. He didn’t know how. One ran from him, and the other ran to him. He didn’t know how to process any of this.

“I don’t know what you are.” Stiles said, “I do know that you saved my life though. I know that you got…stabbed in the stomach by that thing while trying to protect me.”

Derek leaned back against the headboard, pulling his legs up to his chest and running a hand through his messy hair. He took a deep breath and then let out another sigh. Stiles looked hesitant to move any closer, like he was trying to give Derek his personal space, but Derek felt an overwhelming need for Stiles to be close to him. Maybe it was selfish, maybe it was Derek wanting one last moment of closeness before Stiles learned the truth and left him, but Derek still craved it.

“Come here?” Derek asked, his voice small.

Stiles smiled. He crossed the room and crawled up he bed, stopping when he was next to Derek. Their shoulders were pressed together, Derek’s bare skin against the thin cotton of Stiles’ shirt.

“Are you OK?” Derek asked, “Did it hurt you?”

Stiles shook his head, “No. I could tell everything that was happening, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I thought I was going to die until you showed up.”

Derek inhaled sharply. He’d hoped Stiles wouldn’t remember anything that happened before Derek saved him, he knew how hard it was to forget things like that. He knew how much a monster like that could plague your nightmares.

“It was a Jorōgumo.” Derek said, figuring he owed Stiles honesty if he remembered everything.

“A Joro-holy shit.” Stiles gasped, “That day in Laura’s class…”

Derek nodded, “It’s what’s been responsible for those deaths around the city for the past few weeks. We were trying to figure out what it was that day, researching it based on what we knew. We couldn’t figure it out, we had no idea what it was until you figured it out just by looking at what we’d written down.”

Stiles huffed out a surprised laugh, “Hours of late night google binge searching.”

“Thanks to you we know what it is. And we know how to stop it.”

“We…” Stiles trailed off.

“Me, Laura, and Kira.” Derek said hesitantly.

Stiles was silent, but Derek knew what question was on the tip of his tongue.

“I’m a werewolf, Stiles.” Derek whispered.

Stiles’ heart skipped a beat, “Holy shit.”

“Laura is too,” Derek added, “and most of my family.”

“Holy shit,” Stiles echoed, “You all got…bitten?”

Derek shook his head, “Most of us were born that way.”

“Holy shit.” Stiles said, for a third time, “This is a lot to process.”

“I’m sorry.” Derek said, “I didn’t want you to find out.”

That made Stiles pause, “You weren’t going to tell me?”

Derek shook his head, “I didn’t want you to leave.”

“Why would I…”

Stiles quieted. He must have seen the thinly concealed hurt on Derek’s face.

“It’s happened before.” Stiles said, “You told someone, and they left you.”

Derek nodded, “Paige was the only person I’ve ever told, and she was terrified of me. I loved her, and I thought she loved me, but she ran away from me screaming and never spoke to me again.”

Stiles’ hand found his and he squeezed, “Shit, Der. I’m sorry.”

“I like you, a lot.” Derek cleared his throat, “I didn’t want you to know because I didn’t want it to be over. I’m sorry that you found out like this.”

“You’re sorry that I found out you were a werewolf because you saved my life?” Stiles blinked at him, “Derek, I would be dead if you weren’t a werewolf. My head would be spider food, and honestly just the thought of that is enough to make me want to never sleep again.”

Derek made a wounded sound in the back of his throat, causing Stiles to pull him in closer to his side. Derek hesitated for a moment before tucking his face into the crook of Stiles’ neck and kissing him. Stiles shivered, and Derek pressed his nose further into Stiles’ soft skin.

Stiles let out a breathy laugh, “That makes a lot more sense now. I thought you just had a neck fetish.”

Derek kissed him again, “You don’t even know.”

Stiles’ hand on his cheek drew Derek’s attention, and he looked up to see Stiles smiling. Stiles leaned in slowly, kissing Derek softly on his lips.

“I’m glad you’re OK,” Stiles said, “I was worried.”

Derek pulled back, “We heal fast.”

Stiles laughed, “I figured as much when I got you cleaned off and didn’t see a giant hole in your stomach.”

Derek looked down at the bloody clothes on the floor, and it suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea what exactly happened after he passed out in the street.

“How did I get here?” Derek asked, “I don’t remember anything after the fight.”

Stiles sat back and ran a hand through his hair, “I carried you to my jeep.”

Derek blinked, “You carried me.”

“Yeah,” Stiles rubbed his arms and made a pained face, “You’re a lot harder to lift as dead weight than you are when we’re making out, if you were wondering.”

Derek felt his face heat up.

“We made it to the jeep and I was going to take you to the hospital, but as soon as I said that out loud you, uh, growled at me and said no. I panicked and didn’t know what else to do, so I brought you here once I figured out it seemed like you were healing yourself.”

“Sorry for growling at you,” Derek lowered his head, “but thank you for taking care of me.”

“I was going to call Laura, but I don’t know her number and your phone has a password lock.” Stiles said.

“Shit.” Derek sighed.

There was so much he needed to tell Laura now, and she was going to be so pissed that he almost died. The jury was out on how she would react to Stiles knowing their secret, and Derek didn’t even want to think about telling his mom. They were technically supposed to ask permission from the Alpha before they told anyone about them.

Stiles was remarkably calm about everything though, and Derek told his as much.

“You’re being remarkably calm about everything.”

Stiles shrugged, “I might have a breakdown later when I’m alone, but secretly I find this all kind of cool.”

“Cool?” Derek repeated.

Stiles nodded, “I’d probably think you’re crazy if I hadn’t seen it for myself. But it _is_ cool, who else can say that their boyfriend is a werewolf? Well…I guess a lot of people could technically say that, but I can too now.”

“It’s not just werewolves, Stiles.” Derek said, “There’s more things out there than just us. You’ve already seen the Jorōgumo, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Not all werewolves are like my family, there are some out there who kill just for fun. Then there’s hunters, who range from straight up sadistic to anti-social headcases. There’s kanimas, wendigos, witches, ghosts, harpies, selkies, kelpies…”

“And lion’s, and tigers, and bears, oh my?” Stiles cocked his head to the side.

Derek nodded, “Honestly? Yes.”

“Are you trying to scare me off?” Stiles asked softly, “I don’t…you were happy that I wasn’t scared of you a few minutes ago and now you’re listing off all the things in the world that could eat me.”

“ _I’m_ scared.” Derek fell back against the bed and buried his head in Stiles’ pillow, “You almost got hurt tonight because of me, because she was probably tracking my scent and got to you to get to me. You’re so _good_ , Stiles. I don’t want you to get hurt because of this. Because of me.”

“Shit happens, Der.” Stiles said simply, “I could get mugged on the way to see you, get hit by a drunk driver, or get crushed by a falling piano. Am I not supposed to want to date you because I could get crushed by a falling piano?”

Derek groaned. Stiles was right, maybe Derek was trying to scare him off now to save himself from potential heartbreak in case Stiles woke up in the morning too freaked out to deal with anything. The supernatural world was scary as fuck, but the human world was just as fucked up, in some ways it was even _more_ fucked up.

“I’d protect you from the piano.” Derek said softy.

Stiles laughed, “And from all the other stuff you mentioned?”

“Yes.” Derek nodded, pulling Stiles in for a kiss.

Their foreheads were pressed together, Derek taking in the relaxing cadence of Stiles’ breathing.

“You’re going to have to meet my mom.” Derek mumbled a few seconds later.

“Cool,” Stiles smiled, “I bet she’s awesome.”

“She’s an Alpha werewolf.” Derek deadpanned.

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means she’s the boss, and she can turn into an actual wolf the size of a small horse.”

“That sounds amazingly terrifying.”

Derek laughed.

Stiles had no idea.

Though once Stiles crawled onto his lap, his mother was the last thing on Derek’s mind. Stiles lowered himself, his thighs on either side of Derek’s legs. His blunt fingernails trailed up Derek’s back as Derek arched into the touch. Stiles’ lips found his, and Stiles bit as Derek’s bottom lip until he opened his mouth.

“Shirt.” Derek said, tangling his hands in the soft fabric of Stiles’ shirt, “Not fair. Off.”

“Yes sir.” Stiles complied, leaning back for a second to pull the shirt over his head in one fluid motion.

Derek, not for the first time, marveled at Stiles’ body. He surged forward, pressing sloppy kisses to the pale skin of Stiles’ chest, biting at the skin lightly as he mouth traveled further down. Stiles let out a groan and writhed as Derek’s tongue skimmed over a nipple.

Derek looked up at him, their eyes locked, and Stiles gasped.

“Your eyes.”

Derek froze, he turned his head towards the mirror on the back of Stiles’ door and saw two bright blue pinpoints of light staring back at him. Derek blinked at his reflection, taking a deep breath as he forced his eyes back to normal.

Stiles hooked his finger under Derek’s chin as he turned his head back towards himself, “You don’t have to. I love them.”

Derek swallowed the lump in his throat, “You do?”

Stiles nodded, smiling, “They’re beautiful. They were like that in the club, weren’t they?”

Derek blushed, “I can, uh, see better without my glasses when my eyes are shifted.”

Stiles reached out slowly, both of his hands grasping either side of Derek’s glasses. He looked to Derek for permission, Derek nodded, and Stiles took his glasses off. Everything went slightly blurry, Stiles’ face looking smudged around the edges as he squinted to try and bring everything back in focus.

He took a deep breath and let his eyes flash once before they fully shifted, and the world exploded in clarity. The colors were sharper, Stiles’ brown eyes brighter, his smile more blinding than ever before. It was the first time he’d truly seen Stiles like this, up close and personal.

 Derek hadn’t ever seen anything as beautiful.

All of Derek’s sense were pounding when Stiles leaned back in to kiss him. His nose filled with the sweet scent of Stiles’ arousal, his skin almost burned where Stiles’ fingers trailed over his body.

“Can I see more?” Stiles asked.

Derek knew what he meant. It was a question that would have terrified him a few months ago, but the reverent look on Stiles’ face made Derek feel like he could trust him with anything. He could trust Stiles with what he was so sure would have scared him away when they first met.

Derek nodded. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and shifted. He felt the bones in his face crack and reform, his hair grow longer, the telltale prick in his mouth as his teeth grew sharper. He held back his claws because he didn’t want to accidentally hurt Stiles, but the rest of him was as on display as it could be.

Stiles gasped, “Holy shit.”

When Derek looked at Sties, he saw his eyes sparkling with wonder. Stiles reached out a hesitant hand, stopping just before Derek’s face to ask for permission. Derek nodded, figuring he’d let Stiles do anything he wanted to because of the look of awe on his face. Derek had never felt like this, felt beautiful and seen for what he truly was, and it made his stomach clench with the happiest feeling.

Stiles traced his finger along Derek’s lips, and Derek opened his mouth to show Stiles his gleaming fangs. Stiles sucked in a surprised breath when he saw them, but leaned in closer to press his lips against Derek’s.

“I won’t…turn if you accidentally bite me, will I?” Stiles asked with a small laugh.

“I’d never hurt you,” Derek shook his head frantically, “and the only person who can turn a human is an Alpha.”

“Right.” Stiles kissed him again, “So, no making out with your mom?”

Derek growled, and Stiles’ body jolted with surprise. He leaned in to Derek even more, and Derek’s breath caught in his throat when he felt how hard Stiles was beneath his jeans. Stiles kissed him again, his tongue hesitantly slipping into Derek’s mouth. Derek kissed him with as much care as he possibly could, keeping Stiles’ tongue away from his fangs with his own.

Stiles pulled back from the kiss and ran a hand through Derek’s hair, “Your ears are pointy.”

Derek laughed, turning his head to the side, “It helps us hear better.”

“How far can you actually hear?” Stiles asked, tracing his finger over the shell of Derek’s ear.

“It depends,” Derek shrugged, “if I concentrate I could probably hear something happening a few blocks away from your apartment. But I really, really can’t concentrate right now.”

Stiles laughed and leaned forward to kiss Derek’s forehead. He pressed kisses across Derek’s brow, his nose, either side of his lips, his throat, his hands, anywhere he could.

“You’re beautiful.” Stiles whispered, “Thank you.”

Derek let out a low rumble, “Thank _you_. I…you…I feel…”

Derek couldn’t find the words to translate how he was feeling. He felt, primal, awakened, seen for what he truly was, it felt like the entire earth was embracing him. Stiles made him feel that way, and Derek would forever be grateful. He wanted Stiles so badly, wanted to give every last bit of himself to him, wanted to take any part of Stiles that Stiles could give him.

Stiles reached down, his hand grazing over Derek’s hard dick inside his torn jeans. Derek sucked in a surprised breath, his body coiled tightly with pleasure. Stiles touched him again, and Derek let out a soft whimper as he arched into the touch.

“We don’t have to.” Stiles said softly.

Derek shifted back to his human face, only keeping his eyes blazing bright blue, “I want to. If you do.”

Stiles ground his hips into Derek’s lap, “I _really_ want to.”

Their clothes came off quickly after that. Derek howled when Stiles tongue made its way down his body, to the waistband of his briefs, and over the head of his cock. He arched his back and fisted his hands into the sheets when Stiles took his into his mouth, down to the hilt. He was close to crying as he came, his body twisting and arching in pleasure as Stiles swallowed every last drop.

He wanted, needed, to make Stiles feel as good as he did. He grabbed Stiles’ face and pulled him into a heated kiss, he could still taste himself in Stiles’ mouth. He grabbed Stiles’ thighs and picked him up, standing over the bed with Stiles cradled in his arms as they kissed. He sat him back on the bed a few seconds later, kissed his way down Stiles body, and pushed Stiles’ legs apart so he could kiss his thighs.

Stiles let out a low moan as Derek trailed his tongue up the underside of his cock, gasped as Derek kissed the head, and screamed as Derek took him into his mouth. Stiles’ hands instantly tangled in Derek’s hair, his blunt nails scraping gently against Derek’s scalp. Stiles’ hands didn’t force him, or try to guide him, they just held on tight as Derek did his best to make Stiles feel as good as Derek felt.

Stiles came a moment later, his fingers tightened in Derek’s hair and he barely got out a word of warning before he filled Derek’s mouth. Derek reveled in the taste, the feeling that Stiles was his. He didn’t take his mouth of Stiles until his body was still, through with being racked with tremors of pleasure. He pulled his mouth off with a satisfying pop, wiped a bit of Stiles’ cum off his lip using his thumb, and rubbed it into the burning hot skin of his chest.

Stiles looked up at him through half-lidded eyes, “You totally wanted to do that to me with yours, didn’t you?”

Derek nodded, not able to find the words.

“Sorry.” Stiles grinned, “Next time?”

Derek surged forward, kissing him.

“Next time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the original draft of this story was only 4 chapters long, with this being a part of the final chapter but i figured it deserved it's own dedicated chapter lol i feel like i'm terrible at smut so i kept it as brief as i could, but it's there! 
> 
> the final chapter will be extra long next week! enjoy!


End file.
